Metal's Collection of Cloudy Creations

[Metal Snake]

Episode 8: The Bat and the Rat

The tale of Fluttershy shall end with One, the tale of the Dark Sky shall end with CrE…

Dumb-bell, Hoops, Score, Ghost Rainbow Dash, and Derpy Hooves arrived in the World of Evolution. The first thing they noticed in this strange old world as they looked around was that everything was dark.

“Damn it, why is it so dark in here now?” Dumb-bell swore at being surrounded by black. “We need a light.”

“But I thought we didn’t smoke.” Derpy responded obliviously.

“Derpy…” Ghost Rainbow Dash said with a sigh. “I smoke. I know cigarettes make me look stupid, but the feel of puffing something toxic is just too cool to resist!”

“Wha-what?!” Dumb-bell exclaimed. “What made you guys think I was talking about cigarettes? Can’t you see that we have a problem here?”

“No,” replied Hoops, “it’s too dark.”

“...” Score said sarcastically with silence.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” said Dumb-bell. “Yeah Hoops, very funny, ha ha.”

Just then, the sound of one throwing a flash grenade could be heard as footsteps and clinging became audible in tandem.

“LIGHTS IN!” a voice called out as an explosion went off and everything suddenly became bright. Now when the Dark Sky members looked around, they could see everything.

“Dang,” they said as they analyzed everything and came to a result of what they thought. “This is...strange. This place looks so different from when we visited it with Rarity.”

What surrounded them was a damp, dirty road under their hooves, muddiness, and several buildings in the distance that were dark and not part of what became bright. Most importantly, on the road, there were hoofsteps on a path that led off the road and to a mysterious metal and purple building with a metal door on the front and flashy letters above the door enigmatically titling the building “B.A...T. Tiffany’s”.

“B.A...T……..Tiffany’s?” Dumb-bell asked with a dumbstruck look on his face.

“No Dumb, it’s B.A...T. Tiffany’s.” Derpy corrected him intellectually. “You know, like that song we used to cover all the time about a guy spiraling into insanity.”

“Wasn’t that American Pie?” Hoops interjected.

“Tiffany, Pie, who cares?” G.R.D. said. “We have no idea where the heck or hell else to go, why don’t we see if that guy who threw that grenade at us is still here? We couldn’t have gotten this far without his help, maybe he knows why this old world is even weirder now and can give us directions.”

“It might be just you, but eh, you just might be right.” Dumb-bell made a case for both sides. “Up ahead looks too dark and I don’t want to get lost.”

“Neither do I,” said Hoops, “getting lost makes me feel soul-searchy and weird.”

“I’m always lost in my train of thought…” Derpy revealed a personal secret. “It’s really big and gives me motion sickness.”

“...” Score told them to just go in the building already silently.

“Now that’s the kind of attitude I like,” complimented G. Rainbow Dash, “you guys could learn a few things from Score. Now then, we’re going in!”

G.R.D. opened the metal door and the group stepped inside...to find themselves outside of a restaurant with the exact same appearance and decor as the building they had just entered, except this restaurant was a pink metal building, had windows and glass doors and a sign on the window that said “Opening Day!”.

“So B.A...T. Tiffany’s is a restaurant...in a building?” Dumb-bell said, confused once more.

“It could be like one of those hotels that have places that serve meals inside of them.” Hoops educated us. “Let’s look inside.”

The group went up to the glass doors and examined the interior of this hotel-like place. Judging from the brown tile floors and booth-like seats, it appeared to be a normal fast food restaurant. However, there were also bat ponies inside dressed in white, wing-holed uniforms. One was walking under fluorescent lights as he or she delivered food in a cardboard box on a tray to a bat pony customer sitting at a table.

“Bat ponies…” Ghost R.D. grumbled to herself under her ghoulish breath. “It had to be bat ponies...This world just can’t accept the fact that I’m more of a snake guy. Maybe I should just use my ghost powers to slip through the walls undetected and find the dude we’re looking for-”

“Oh no, vampires!” Derpy shouted, alerting every employee in the restaurant to where every member of the Dark Sky was.

Like regular bats, the bat ponies knew where the Dark Sky members were because of the sound, and began staring at them through the glass doors.

“What do we do now guys?” Derpy whispered softly, learning from her mistake as her team members glared at her in frustration.

The bat ponies just sighed with screeches…

“Can we help you ponies from another planet with something?” one of the bat ponies asked.

“Uh, yes.” Dumb-bell said, deciding to be the spokesman. “We’re here to see somepony who threw a grenade at us. We think he or she might-DO’H!”

Dumb-bell was interrupted by Hoops giving him a hard knock on the head.

“Sorry, sorry,” apologized Hoops, “what he meant to say was that we’re lost and we want to ask for directions…”

“We are sorry too, sir,” retorted a bat pony employee, “but we only give directions to paying customers.”

“Oh, okay.” Derpy interjected. “Do we have to put quarters in your toilet?”

The bat ponies just had blank expressions on their faces.

“Do you live in a cave?” one of them asked. “We have no toilets here! We’re bat ponies, we go to the bathroom on the ceiling! Just look above you!”

Curiously, the group glanced up and saw two doors on the ceiling that apparently led to bathrooms. The one on the left had one symbol of a purple alicorn standing while holding a squirt gun, and the one on the right had three symbols, being from left to right, a pink alicorn crouching while holding a butter knife, an arrow pointing to the right, and a pink building.

“You have bathrooms, but no toilets?” Hoops said as he scratched his head. “Are they just...dirt floors on the inside, or…?”

“How do you tell which one is the men or women’s?” Derpy asked. “The bro on the left looks like a woman and the broski on the right looks like a crossdresser.”

“Isn’t that...inconvenient for ponies who can’t fly?” G. Rainbow Dash pointed out. “What do you expect the earth ponies and unicorns to do, float up there? Not all of them have the kind of skill to do something that cool, just saying.”

“Are you just going to stand there asking stupid questions and getting no answers,” said one of the bat ponies, “or are you going to order something? Because you can order something to eat when we come to the table you’re sitting at.”

“Oh, so that’s how you do it.” Derpy figured out from the tutorial. “So in a nutshell, all we need to do to go to the bathroom is sit down and order food.”

“...Exactly.” the bat pony said, wearying of this conversation. “There should be an open table right over there…”

The bat pony pointed to the table that the bat pony customer the Dark Sky members saw from the glass door was sitting at. But he or she was gone, leaving only an opened cardboard box filled with untouched apple slices on the table. Upon listening closely, the laugh of a pink machine could be heard…

“Just like in that story… a slightly unnerved Dumb-bell muttered.

“That is funny…” one of the bat ponies giggled at the weirdness. “If he didn’t want to try the food, he should’ve just not ordered it. I hope you five will be more...courteous.”

“You mean four,” Ghost R.D. corrected. “I’m incapable of eating food that I don’t want to try, obviously. The only thing I can do to be courteous is pay for the meal.”

“Yeah, yeah,” a bat pony replied impatiently, “just take a seat, take a seat right over there.”

The group obeyed with caution as they got into the booth with the apple slices. As the bat ponies put five menus on the table and walked away, the group began to converse and conspire about what was really going on here, with the exception of Derpy, who was too focused on her menu.

“I’m telling you, it’s just like that story.” Dumb-bell told G. Rainbow Dash. “And not the one with you in it.”

“I was in a story?!” Ghost. R.D. exclaimed excitedly. “Oh wait, it wasn’t an awful parody story that made fun of me was it?”

“What, n-no. I meant the Rainbow Dash from that stor-” Dumb-bell paused as he thought this over. “What the…”

“What’s wrong, Dumb-bell?” Hoops asked.

“N-nothing, never mind.” Dumb-bell replied. “It’s just...fudge, this multi-alternate reality verse stuff Rarity told us about warped my mind. I feel so confused...”

“I can relate,” Derpy chimed in. “I’m really confused right now about this menu. I don’t know how to read all these illegible scribbles. Also, I never knew that “BLAH BLAH BLAH” was a food.”

“...What.” the others responded collectively.

Everyone picked up their menus and skimmed through them. In doing so, all they found was the same thing, scribbles and “BLAH BLAH BLAH”. Even the prices for the food were listed as “??? (depends on how much we get from them)”.

“What kind of cram is this?!” G.R.D. exclaimed. “These menus are bullshit!”

“How can I play the game on the back if I can’t read the menu?” Derpy complained as she showed the group her menu’s back, which depicted a drawing of a purple robot alicorn talking a speech bubble that said “Let the game begin…”

“Hey, she was on the bathroom door.” Hoops recalled. “What does she mean by that? What game?”

“HEY EVERYONE!” declared a loud voice from the table as it turned pink and robot-like. “DO YOU WANT TO HEAR A JOKE?!”

“Who are you?!” the Dark Sky members shouted.

“Ha ha, “who”.” the table guffawed. “Don’t worry, it’s not a knock-knock joke. It goes like this. Why did 5 and 3 get into a fight at the restaurant?”

“Why…” G.R.D. replied, not wanting to play along. “...are you doing this?”

“Because 5 didn’t order a 2-for-1!” the table shouted.

The group was silent until Score began to chuckle.

“...” he explained the joke silently.

“Yeah, math is hilarious!” the table said like a calculus student handing in his homework late. “They say laughter is the best medicine to knock someone out with, but I prefer chloroform!”

 

And with that, part of the table became a spray nozzle that filled the restaurant with sleeping gas. Ghost R.D. was unaffected because of her ghost powers, but the rest inhaled the gas and fell asleep. Noticing the bat ponies coming back to the table with gasmasks on and a purple robot alicorn with them, she hid in a wall. She knew that for now, there was nothing she could do as her fellow band members were dragged away…

Two hours later, the sleeping Dark Sky members slowly regained consciousness, and found themselves in a dimly lit underground basement. All four of them were strapped to purple metal beds strapped to the wall. As they looked around and realized that fact, Dumb-bell sighed.

“I should’ve known…” he groaned. “It’s going to be THAT story. It’s times like this where I’m glad we have mist powers...”

The Dark Sky members turned to mist and slipped out of the straps. They were about to teleport out of the basement, but stopped when the cries of the bat pony customer from earlier could be heard from a supply room on the other side of the basement…

“ANSWER ME!” screamed a familiar robotic voice from a purple cyborg. “WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE FOR COMING TO MY RESTAURANT?!”

“I told you, I just wanted to eat-GLORK!” the customer was interrupted by a kick to the face from the cyborg.

The Dark Sky members quietly went up to the barely visible purple door of the room and peered into the purple keyhole. Inside they saw that the purple cyborg was...Robot Alicorn Twilight.

“YES, LIE TO ME!” Robot Alicorn Twilight cried joyfully. “I WANT TO PROLONG THIS TORTURE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! I KNOW DISCORD SENT YOU! HE WANTS YOU TO SHUT DOWN MY RESTAURANT! HE KNOWS IT’S PART OF MY PLAN TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD OF ORIGIN!”

“I don’t know what you’re-” the customer paused. “Wait, you went through my-AGH!”

“KEEP TELLING ME THAT…” R.A.T. said upon stomping on the customer’s legs. “I ALREADY KNOW WHY DISCORD AND RARITY RE-CREATED THE WORLD OF EVOLUTION WHEN THEY MADE THE WORLD OF ORIGIN. IT’S ALL PART OF THE L.O.W., THE LIGHTLY ORDERED WORLD PROJECT. THEY’RE GOING TO MAKE FLUTTERSHY GOD OF THE UNIVERSE NOW THAT CrE IS DEAD! BUT I WILL HAVE NONE OF THAT! I’M GOING TO USE THIS RESTAURANT TO RAISE ENOUGH MONEY FOR MY OWN PROJECT TO MAKE MYSELF GOD!”

“...Reall-UNH!” the customer was interrupted by being stomped on the arms.

“Yes…” R.A.T. replied. “I think I’m going to calm down now and take this a little slower since there’s no need to rush...Discord and Rarity wrote me into this world as the guardian of the first orb. Though they stripped me of my ability to perform fusion arts, I eventually learned a magic spell to turn living beings into money. But with spies like you always watching, there’s no way I could do that to the new citizens of this world in broad daylight. So I established this restaurant to do it in secret and got some bat ponies to work for me by bribing them with access to Robot Alicorn Applejack’s orchard. I’m going to turn every customer that comes to my restaurant into money until I reach my $700 billion goal, and no one will ever find out!”

“You just told me…” the customer pointed out as he coughed up blood. “I’m not even one of Discord’s spies, I’m a health inspector who used to be a guy from the human world named Freddy…”

“Exactly…” R.A.T. gave an evil grin with that line. “I knew all along. I was just doing this for fun. And now that you know what you do, you can not be allowed to live…”

“But weren’t you going to kill me anyways-NGH!” the customer said his final words as the cyborg transformed him into nonliving money.

“Who said evil had to make sense?” R.A.T. made a point as she put the money in her wallet. “Now then, I have other matters to attend to…”

Upon overhearing the entire conversation, the Dark Sky members were horrified.

“That poor guy…” Hoops whispered. “There’s nothing we could have done...those robot alicorns are far more powerful than we could hope to be…”

“I know…” Dumb-bell acknowledged. “Our only hope is to get out of here now!”

The Dark Sky members turned to mist to teleport outside of the restaurant.

“Come on,” said Dumb-bell, “let’s find G.R.D. and get out of…”

Dumb-bell paused as the group, including G.R.D., who came out of one of the building’s walls, looked towards them and saw a shadow paladin in shining armor on a celestial horse in front of the door. Before the group could even ask who he or she was, the paladin began to utter poetry…

One Born of the Sky

One born of the sky

Infused with the shy

Brings a promise to a ruined land

A promise that all will comprehand

In the chaos of time and reality

I shall create a new mentality

One that all shall comprehend

In the land that I will mend

In response, the Dark Sky members stood still and blinked. They looked behind through the glass doors of the restaurant and saw bat pony employees standing around motionless as if time had stopped. Curious, they walked up to the paladin.

“Nice poem,” Derpy complimented. “By the way, who the hell are you?”

“An envoy of the future…” the shadow paladin replied from under the radiant helm covering their face. “A servant of the god known as Fluttershy.”

“!” the group was slightly surprised as they remembered what R.A.T. said. “So it’s true...Fluttershy is going to be the god of the universe...if you’re from the future, the L.O.W. project is destined to succeed. That must’ve been what Rarity tried to explain to us before…”

“Precisely…” the shadow paladin confirmed. “Even if you do find Fluttershy and stop her from collecting the orbs, you can not change that outcome.”

“...” all of the Dark Sky members said silently and despondently.

“Please Dark Sky members,” the shadow paladin pleaded. “I beg you...stop fighting against Fluttershy and instead fight for her. Just as Fluttershy is destined to become CrE, you were also destined to come to this world and prove yourselves worthy of being her most faithful servants. And for that to happen, you must defeat all of the robot alicorns in this world! Fight against these heathens who dare to oppose her!”

“But how?” the group asked. “We’d love to help Fluttershy, but we don’t have that kind of strength…”

“True…” the shadow paladin replied as shadow exuded from his body. “But I can create that kind of strength within you…”

The shadow exuding from the paladin began to spread and divide itself, entering into each of the Dark Sky members. As a result, each of them felt overwhelmingly more powerful than before.

“Wow!” G. Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “With this power, I can make my plan to take down those machines work even better! Thanks for the...”

Before the Dark Sky members could thank the shadow paladin, he turned to flashing light and disappeared, leaving the Dark Sky members somewhat mystified.

“I guess that leaves us with just one mystery… Derpy said in puzzlement of a certain someone’s identity. “Who did throw that flash grenade?”

As the Dark Sky members sighed, they looked back through the glass doors of the restaurant and saw the bat ponies slowly starting to move again.

“Shoot, time’s resuming!” G.R.D. alerted her comrades. “Everyone, hide! I’ve got an idea!”

Soon after the Dark Sky members had hidden, Robot Alicorn Twilight and the bat ponies stormed out of the restaurant.

“Where the heavenly Tartarus did those bastards go?!” R.A.T. yelled. “Scout this area right now and find them!”

The bat ponies obeyed the order and began searching. However, the pink restaurant remained stationary.

“That goes for you too, Pinkie!” R.A.T. exclaimed as she transformed the responseless R.A.P. as a building into R.A.P. as a squirt gun...revealing that the Dark Sky members, save G.R.D., were hiding behind the restaurant.

“!” R.A.T. made something that appeared to be an exclamation point appear over her head with magic to express her surprise. “THERE YOU ARE! PREPARE FOR YOUR DEATHS!”

Just as R.A.T. pulled the trigger on the R.A.P. squirt gun though, it turned to face her, causing herself to get blasted with a tidal wave. Hearing the wave coming, the bat ponies flew up to evade it, but R.A.T. took the wave strong enough to penetrate her waterproof armor full blast.

“AAAAAHHHHH!” R.A.T. screamed as she began to short circuit with electricity emanating from all around her body. “MY EYES!!! HOW DID-WHY-”

“NOW!” the Dark Sky members called their attack as they rushed toward R.A.T. with the shadow aura exuding from them. Protected from the electricity, they all leaped in the air and came down on R.A.T. with a drop punch, decimating her and her immorality chip to pieces. The bat ponies noticed the Dark Sky members’ destructive behavior and were so terrified that they ran and flew away at the same time.

“Victory!” the Dark Sky members, including G.R.D. who came out of the R.A.P. squirt gun, cheered. “Your plan was brilliant, G. Rainbow Dash!”

“Heh heh,” replied G.R.D., who had been part of that group cheer. “It was nothing really. I figured out that I could take possession of the pink robot alicorn when I went inside her wall while she was a restaurant. Since I couldn’t possess R.A.T. (tried it, didn’t work), I decided that the best strategy would be waiting until the pink one was needed. If I had turned her into a weapon while everyone was still in the restaurant...”

With those words, the R.A.P. squished herself into a smaller form and expanded into the pony form of herself.

“Woo-hoo, I’m free!” she shouted happily. “Thanks guys! You saved my master Twilight from a life of evil!”

“Wh-what?!” the Dark Sky members replied, almost having heart attacks as they put their defenses up. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on sillies,” R.A.P. playfully taunted, “did you really think the robot alicorns were purely evil? The only reason Twilight was evil was because she was programmed that way with an immorality chip!”

“Immorality chips?” they responded. “Rarity told us a mouthful about you guys and how you’re from a different reality or some shit, but never explained to us what that was…”

“Then allow me to elaborate...” R.A.P. prepared to explain. “Even after Celestia turned us into robot alicorns, our strong sense of justice lingered. None of us would have gone along with Celestia’s evilly insane plans, so she had to use a bit of force. She either programmed us to be evil by implanting immorality chips into our brains, in the case of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and eventually Fluttershy...or she turned us into tools under the control of her two favorite robot alicorns Twilight and Rainbow Dash, in the case of me and Rarity. I guess the ghost dude being able to possess me and not Twilight is proof of the latter.”

“About the former then...” the Dark Sky members said. “Rarity told us that a robot alicorn can not be reasoned with and must be destroyed. How can that be true if they’re not really evil? Can’t we just take out their chips?”

“No,” R.A.P. replied, “the chips are rooted deeply into the vital areas of their robot brains. If those chips are removed, they’ll eventually cease to function and die. Just look at R.A.T.’s body…”

Upon investigating the spot of R.A.T.’s demise, not only did the Dark Sky members discover a squashed robot brain near sizable pieces of a chip that looked like it didn’t play by any rules whatsoever, they also found a ghostly blue orb with a strange lock on it...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[Metal Snake]

Episode 9: Banana Sandwich, Apple Bomb

The shadow paladin has tread the paths of good, evil, and neutrality…

 

Once the mission was accomplished last time, the Dark Sky members decided to examine the ghostly blue orb.

 

“So these are the orbs Celestia was talking about…” Hoops reminisced. “If what the shadow paladin said was true, collecting these and keeping these from Fluttershy should be a pointless pursuit. Yet I can’t help but feel it’s worth a try…”

 

“There’s something about this orb that seems really familiar,” said Ghost Rainbow Dash, “yet I can’t put my invisible fingers on it.”

 

“Do you think it’s the fact that it’s the same color as you?” Dumb-bell hinted.

 

“No, can’t be.” G.R.D. replied. “I put my fingers on myself all the time, regardless of color.”

 

Everyone gave G.R.D. a weird look...

 

“I...didn’t hear that.” Dumb-bell sternly refused the proposal his ears gave to his brain.

 

“Oh you guys and your idealogically sensitive humor,” Robot Alicorn Pinkie raced ahead to give a response like a chicken crying over sleeping through the sunrise the day he had to run a marathon. “The reason the orb is the same color as the ghost is because she was the main reason you were able to defeat Robot Alicorn Twilight with her diversion, simple as that. In exchange for saving her from hurting any more innocents, I’m sure R.A.T. will be more than happy to provide Ghostie here with vital information about what we need to do if we can get that lock removed.”

 

Now R.A.P. was the one getting weird looks…

 

“You’re...pretty informed for someone who’s not the wittiest tool in the lightbulb closet.” Hoops remarked. “How do you know all this?”

 

“I was given my resources…” R.A.P. explained with a smile. “Discord was more than happy to tell me the whole story after he and Rarity gave both the World of Creation and the World of Evolution new life...or should I call them by their original names, the World of Dark Sky and the World of the Transcending Dark Sky?”

 

“Oh?” said the Dark Sky members, slightly stunned by this revelation they already kind of knew about.

 

“I can feel your shock…” R.A.P. replied. “Even as a machine, the truth was hard for me to accept. The truth that we’re all just pawns to be used in Discord and Rarity’s project.”

 

“Pawns?” Dumb-bell asked. “But we came here of our own accord…”

 

“Exactly…” R.A.P said. “You came here of your own accord...because that’s what Discord and Rarity wanted to happen in this reality. They re-created this world and revived the Robot Alicorns as orb-carriers to test you guys and see...”

 

“...” Score interjected silently.

 

“Yeah, didn’t Rarity already tell us something like this?” Dumb-bell pointed out. “Do we really need to hear the same explanation again only with Discord?”

 

“N-no,” R.A.P. replied, “this is a different explanation. You guys may have been told some things, but you don’t the whole truth about…”

 

“I don’t know much about this Discord guy other than that he came over to Fluttershy’s house and Celestia’s castle a few times to get his tax forms filled out or something like that.” Derpy interrupted as she informed. “But what else do you want us to know about Rarity? She’s our trusted boss, a ninja, a bender of time and reality, and a friend of the Spirit of Chaos. I think that’s all we need to know.”

 

“You...wouldn’t make a very good cyborg.” R.A.P. demeaned. “You don’t understand that…”

 

“Hey!” Derpy took offense. “That’s not really nice, I’d make a great machine! I’ll have you know that I run really well! It’s a skill that helps my fellow agents with all of their operations!”

 

“We’re not those kind of agents Derpy, we’re deliverers of music…” Hoops intervened. “Just because we’re employed by royalty doesn’t mean that we’re spies on a secret mission for the government or something.”

 

“So am I still explaining something important to you guys, or…?” R.A.P. opened up possibilities like a soup chef camping out under a bell tower.

 

“I think it’s the latter.” G.R.D. decided.

 

R.A.P. just stood there in silence thinking to herself.

 

“Now I know why I chose these guys for the plan…” she said in her mind. “They make better tools than machines!”

 

“Well thanks for telling us what we wanted to hear,” said Hoops with gratitude as he put the orb in his fur pouch, “but we have a mission to accomplish. Celestia told us to get her the orbs if we could find them, but that’s only a side quest.”

 

“Yeah.” Derpy followed up as the gang started walking away. “We still need to find Fluttershy! Even if we can’t stop one outcome, we’ll find another way to stop another outcome!”

 

“Wait!” R.A.P. yelled out to the group as she ran and flew up ahead of them.

 

“What is it?” the Dark Sky members asked calmly as they stopped and put their hooves down in the dirt trail.

 

“Can I please...join you guys?” R.A.P. pleaded. “Now that I’m good, I really want to stop the other evil robot alicorns of this world! They’re in the city right now harassing and killing innocent civilians!”

 

“Wh-what?!” they shouted in surprise. “Are all of them there?”

 

“Robot Alicorn Fluttershy was sent to the World of Creation,” explained R.A.P., “and I don’t know where Robot Alicorn Rarity is. But I know for certain that Twilight and I arrived to this world with Robot Alicorns Applejack and Rainbow Dash. If you let me come along, I can brighten the dark path on the way to the city and even guide you to their hideouts...what do you say?”

 

Dumb-bell, Hoops, Score, and Derpy slightly knocked their heads in thought before turning to G.R.D.

 

“What do you say, Rainbow?” they asked. “You are the leader now that Fluttershy isn’t here…”

 

“I guess,” G.R.D. assumed like she assumed her position. “Just make sure to stay out of my way. I’m not afraid to go through you if I have to…”

 

“I guess that would...feel somewhat uncomfortable…” R.A.P. gave the ghost’s remark some weight. “Anyways, time to lighten things up!”

 

R.A.P. pulled a grenade launcher out from her metal innerworkings and fired a flash grenade into the dark city. As the grenade exploded and lightened up the place, the sound of screaming, cars crashing, and bat ponies complaining about eye pain could be heard in the distance.

 

“HEY! HEY!” some bat ponies started yelling. “DO YOU MORONS HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?! IT’S NINE O’ CLOCK IN THE MORNING! WE’RE TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE! WHO THE HELL DID THAT?!”

 

“Oh crap…” R.A.P. muttered as bat ponies started flying out of the city and heading towards to where they were to investigate. “Everyone, stay low, and keep qui-”

 

“Hey wait a minute,” said Derpy, “I remember now! You must have been the one who threw the grenade when we first came here!”

 

“What was that?!” one of the scouting bat ponies responded as he faintly heard some of the conversation from the distance. “Is there somebody there?”

 

“Freaking damnation!” R.A.P. cursed. “We have to go banana-sandwich!”

 

“What does that mean?” the Dark Sky members asked.

 

“!” the scout bat pony who overheard them reacted when he came closer and saw them. “IT’S THOSE GUYS! The ones Applejack wanted! Everyo-!”

 

The scout was interrupted by a laser blast from R.A.P.’s horn that sent him flying.

 

“It means we force our way through by any and all means, duh!” R.A.P. sassed as she put her grenade launcher back inside of her. “What do you think I meant, to go banana-split?!”

 

The group ran down the now visible and well-lit trail and into the city, with bat ponies following right behind.

 

“For as long (actually not too long) as we can remember, we’ve kept this world nice and dark…” the bat ponies hissed as R.A.P. tried to fire lasers of light back at them with little avail. “You shall not make our work more difficult!”

 

“Guys, forward and ahead!” G.R.D. announced to the group as she pointed straight to a bar with a sign up on it that read “Applejack’s Open Time”. “I think that’s R.A. Applejack’s hideout!”

 

“Ha ha mwa!” the pursuing bat ponies guffawed. “What are you going to do, ask our leader to help you hide from us?!”

 

“Wait, wasn’t R.A. Twilight your leader?” Derpy asked an intelligent question.

 

“Not by a long shot!” they continued their gloating. “We’ve always been working for R.A. Applejack! The waiters from the restaurant were just spies! Gwa ha ma!”

 

“So you were just using her from the start!” Dumb-bell scolded.

 

“Why so austere?” the bat ponies kept laughing. “Don’t tell me you’ve never betrayed the trust of an evil creature.”

 

“The betrayal of evil does not create justice!” Hoops shouted.

 

“Heh heh, I think we’re about done here.” the bat ponies said as they stopped chasing the group. “We’ve gotten our entertainment out of you. We’ll let our leader handle the rest…”

 

R.A.P. and the Dark Sky members soon arrived at the front door of Applejack’s Open Time as the chase concluded.

 

“And for the record,” R.A.P. established as she panted from the running, “I did not throw that grenade! Twilight did! I was the restaurant in the building the entire time, R.A.T. just stole my weapon!”

 

“Wow, what a turn!” Derpy remarked at the sudden twist of old events. “We solved the mystery! ACCOMPLISHED MISSION, gang!”

 

“Hold the celebration Derpy,” said Hoops, “we’re still only on part two of this thing.”

 

“So part two of our current mission is defeating Robot Alicorn Applejack?” Derpy surmised.

 

“You could...say it like that.” Hoops replied with a smirk.

 

“What are we just doing standing here?” Dumb-bell interjected. “Shouldn’t we be in the bar?”

 

“Technically no.” Derpy said. “The drinking age is 21, and everyone in our group except Rainbow and R.A.P. is 22. We’re overage.”

 

“Derpy…” R.A.P. responded as she facehoofed. “What you said was wrong, and no one cares about it. Besides, I have a strategy to deal with this mechanical monstrosity that involves just me going in the bar.”

 

“Oh?” the Dark Sky members said. “Do tell.”

 

“You guys will wait out here,” elaborated R.A.P.., “while I go inside the bar and engage R.A.A. alone. Once I’ve weakened her, I’ll lure her out here. Those bat ponies who saw us together haven’t made it over here, so they shouldn’t be expecting you guys if it’s just me. And even without a surprise attack, I’m sure you can handle her when she’s weak with your power. Are you okay with that plan?”

 

“Rainbow…” the Dark Sky members said to their leader, awaiting her say.

 

“I suppose.” Rainbow Dash decided. “If it saves me the trouble of coming up with a plan, I’m all for it.”

 

“Good.” R.A.P. replied. “Now get back…”

 

The Dark Sky members went over to the right side of the building as R.A.P. began to open the door. It was a wooden door with a knob, and the knob’s other side was a bar that was styled to look like something straight out of a Western science fiction movie. Everywhere, there were metal tables, metal chairs, metal ropes hanging from metal support beams on the ceiling, a huge stack of metal barrels of apple whiskey and beer mixed together behind the bartender’s counter, and wooden windows. The employees in this place were businessmen wearing white shirts with ties, black pants, and cowboy hats, who delivered drinks in strange wooden mugs and bottles to the normal pony customers.

 

The manager of this place was right out in the open doing her managing work at a desk next to a uniformed bartender with her backside facing the front door. She was Robot Alicorn Applejack, and she wore white panties around her rear, as well as a white bra around her robot breasts.

 

“Well howdy Pinkie.” R.A.A. greeted with her rear facing R.A.P. as she walked in and shut the door behind her. “How’s Twilight been?”

 

“Your sense of humor’s worse than mine…” R.A.P. responded, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. “I know the spies from the restaurant already told you what happened.”

 

“Your smart mouth is worse than mine…” R.A.A. complimented the intellect of R.A.P.’s piehole. “I know all about this little “project” of Rarity and Discord’s...do you see me trying to brag about it to outsiders?”

 

“!” R.A.P. had that emotion. “So R.A.T.’s not the only robot alicorn who knows…”

 

“Yes…” R.A.A. replied as she put her managing work where R.A.P. could clearly see it. “And I’m not going to die by the hooves of those fatheaded numbskulls outside on purpose just because it’s my destiny. I’m going to go out with a blaze of glory…”

 

“Blaze of...glory?” R.A.P. reiterated as she read what R.A.A. had put in front of her…

 

Opening Time

 

..W-day is approaching, today is our last chance.

We can’t call for help, just alcohol.

Troubles are a-poaching, like a bad romance.

Don’t even yelp, just fall…

 

Fall, fall out winter boy.

Finish, I don’t care about the type of booze.

Fly, just know that the eagles are not coy.

Fail, a loss we didn’t choose

 

Goodbye

 

R.A.P. then looked up at R.A.A. as she realized what this poem meant…

 

“Yeah, the tools outside have a destiny, but not you…” R.A.A. said as her horn began to light up. “I know who I want to take home...TO HELL!”

 

With those words, R.A.A. turned to the stack of metal barrels of apple alcohol and charged up her laser beam. R.A.P. ran as fast as she could to a wooden window on the right and jumped out of it. Before the Dark Sky members could ask what was going on, she transformed into a giant pink train coated in heatproof armor.

 

“GET INSIDE!” the Pinkie train as she opened her door. “THE BAR’S GOING TO BLOW UP!”

 

All of the Dark Sky members rushed inside the train except for Derpy, who was confused.

 

“Wait, don’t we need tickets?” she asked.

 

But it was too late to ask questions. The bar exploded and blew away both the Pinkie train and Derpy into the air. Though shielded from the explosion from being behind the Pinkie train, Derpy was crushed by the train when both of them landed. The train rolled over her before it stopped motionless in the dirt, leaving Derpy flat on the ground. Applejack’s Open Time was nothing more than a pile of debris and a logo. On top of the debris pile was a poster of a businessman smiling and lying down with an open briefcase and the words “Got the Files?” written on it, and below the poster, a burnt and mortally wounded R.A.A. crawled out with the poster on her face. Taking the poster off her face with a blank expression, she walked languidly over to the flattened Derpy.

 

“I knew it…” R.A.A. said as she looked down at Derpy and coughed. “Even if it defies everything logical…”

 

Derpy had been flattened classic cartoon character style. R.A.A. just breathed a sigh of depression as she pulled an uzi-like shotgun out of herself.

 

“I know you can’t die, but I’ll fight to the end…” R.A.A. said, knowing those would be her final words.

 

Before R.A.A. could pull the trigger, she was run over by the Pinkie train, being operated by the Dark Sky members. She got dragged under the wheels and died being crushed to pieces as she realized that she had even failed to kill the only one she thought she could kill. After the train had finished going over her, all that remained of her was the pieces of her and her immorality chip, and a dullish gray orb with another strange lock on it…

 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[Metal Snake]

Episode 10: The Truth of the Orbs

There is only one true dark sky, but the one true Fluttershy is three in one…

The Dark Sky members immediately got out of the train and ran over to Derpy.

“DERPY!” they collectively yelled with concern as they looked down at her. “Are you okay?!”

“I feel funny…” Derpy replied. “And by that, I mean I have a strange feeling this is someone’s unusual idea of a joke…”

“That’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Robot Alicorn Pinkie complimented as she turned back into a pony. “Discord is laughing his ass off as we speak…”

R.A.P. went over to Derpy, picked her up, and began breathing into her mouth, inflating her back to normal. Afterwards, the group began to mingle.

“So we can’t even die unless they want us too…” Ghost Rainbow Dash said with a groan. “Now I don’t feel so special…”

“There was something off about the way all of that happened…” Dumb-bell theorized.

“...Huh?” a confused R.A.P. said.

“No kidding,” Hoops added to the theory, “we didn’t even get to actually fight that robot alicorn. It’s almost like she gave up before the battle even began...”

“Well to be fair,” Derpy chimed in, “we did kill the machine alicorn from the restaurant pretty quickly.”

“That was different though.” G.R.D. countered. “I helped out majorly in that fight. Fights should always be going pretty quickly if I’m helping out!”

“Wait a second…” R.A.P. interjected. “Why are you guys squabbling about what just happened like you don’t the reason why it happened? I thought you already knew the reason!”

“Hmm, what?” Dumb-bell asked.

“You already know that Rarity and Discord control everything in this reality!” R.A.P. exclaimed. “That’s why all these abnormal things that can’t happen very often are happening for the sake of your progress! They want you to succeed in collecting all of the orbs so that they can get the L.O.W. project going!”

“Yeah, we know that…” Hoops responded. “We’re just wondering why Rarity set it all up that way.”

“Yeah, Rarity could’ve made that last part more interesting!” G.R.D. asserted like a fourteen-year old boy forgetting to spell his name right for a joke on an internet forum for kids. “Like, instead of making Derpy that stretch guy from the Fantastic Four and having Robot Alicorn Applejack being all EMO (frickin’ poetry, seriously?), why not have me possess R.A.P. and fuse with everyone to form a huge Vulcan bot? Then when Applejack sees me, she starts begging for mercy (but she’s really not, because she’s a totally evil dickdouche!), and I’m like “HA HA, DIE! BOOM!” I fire my laser cannon at her and she’s dead! And then all the guys she had tied up naked in the basement will be all like “Oh, Ghost Rainbow Dash, you saved us! We love you and we wish you had a hot body so we could touch it! Oh God, please come inside of us and jerk us off!””

There was a long moment of silence as everyone looked at G.R.D. with a blank expression on their face.

“I...guess at the very least that could’ve been more intriguing…” Hoops remarked.

“...” Score silently analyzed and gave his review of what G. Rainbow Dash said.

“Excellent critique!” Derpy lauded. “I wish that I had those opinions!”

“A Vulcan bot is a bit trite though,” Dumb-bell threw in his two cents. “I’d prefer us to merge together to form a Vegito bot from Dragon Ball Z!”

“Ew...I don’t like Dragon Ball Z because it’s anime...>.>” G.R.D. gave a sincere opinion with a smiley. “And I don’t like anime because it’s so cheesy, stupid, and unkawaii.”

As Dumb-bell lashed back at her angrily and immaturely with a respectful counterargument, R.A.P. began to fume as she walked away from the group quietly.

“Hey, where is she going?” Derpy asked. “She’s going to miss Brony Fighting Time!”

“You mean Otaku Fighting Time,” Hoops corrected, “Brony Fighting Time comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“I’ll go talk to her and see what’s up.” Derpy said as she walked a few steps over to R.A.P. and touched her right shoulder with her hoof. “Hey Rap, is something the mat-”

“STEP OFF!” R.A.P. shouted as she shoved Derpy’s hoof away angrily. This moment of drama was enough to disrupt the epic battle of the animeniacs, as all the Dark Sky members glared at R.A.P. in surprise.

“IF YOU GUYS DON’T LIKE ME AND DON’T APPRECIATE WHAT I DO FOR YOU, THEN DON’T HANG OUT WITH ME!” she declared with rage in her voice.

With that, she took flight and began to fly away towards a mysterious metal blue castle.

“DAYUMAMN, what is her problem?” G.R.D. asked.

“We were hanging out?” Dumb-bell said as he gave himself a head knock in his puzzlement. “I thought we were providing filler while we waited for R.A.P. to take us to the next part of the story.”

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMIND ME!” R.A.P. yelled, her voice becoming audible to the group from a distance.

R.A.P. pulled out a mysterious scroll from where she kept her garoting string and began to chant something inaudible as she held the scroll up to her. Once she had finished chanting, a part of the sky turned dark and a hole opened up in it over the Dark Sky members. One by one, it sucked each of them inside. When it finished sucking, another dark sky hole opened up in the sky above the entrance to the mysterious metal blue castle and blew them out. They fell fifty feet from the sky and landed on the ground huddled together. A bat pony guard, who had been scouting the area for intruders from atop a perch, spotted them and ran inside the castle frantically.

“Sir!” the bat pony guard exclaimed as he went over to a blue cyborg pony who was sitting on a throne and sipping grape alcohol from a glass that covered their mouth. “A dark hole just opened up in the sky, and those guys came out of it! They’re right outside the front gates! What should we do sir?”

The blue cyborg pony grinned as she pulled the glass away from her mouth, revealing it to be the mouth of...Robot Alicorn Rainbow Dash.

“We do what I wish I was programmed to do...” Robot Alicorn Rainbow Dash replied with a tone of excitement. “Show them a good time, sergeant…”

“Do you want me to initiate the castle’s Cannon Party mode?” the bat pony sergeant asked.

“Nah, let’s go for something more subtle.” R.A.R.D. replied. “How about the Mystery Machine Mansion mode?”

“...Sure thing, sir!” the bat pony sergeant gave an obedient response as he pulled a blue button switch out of his wing pockets and pressed it.

With the press of that button, the metal castle began to transform into a mechanically spooky mansion straight out of a science fiction/horror flick, right when the Dark Sky members, each exuding an aura of shadow, were recovering from the case of lazyitis they were afflicted with after the fall from the portal.

“Man, those shadow powers really allow you to take this kind of thing lying down…” Dumb-bell referred to both the lazyitis and the severe injuries they didn’t have from the fifty-foot drop as he got up.

“Aw, you guys didn’t even need classic cartoon character powers to survive…” G.R.D. moaned as she rose to her feet in the air. “Ghost powers don’t allow me to take poor self-esteem issues lying down…”

“What are you moping about?” Derpy asked as she just laid there on her back. “I always have poor self-esteem issues, and I can take them lying face up.”

Ghost R.D. gave a bemused look as she flew over to Derpy and whispered something softly in her ear…

“...Boo.”

“...” Score imitated the sound of a laugh track silently.

“Okaaayyy…” Hoops said as he pulled Derpy off the ground to her feet. “That’s enough joking around. I think we’ve provided this story with enough comic relief. We should be getting back to our mission now, I don’t want us to completely forget about the plot like last time.”

“You’re no fun…” G.R.D. grunted with her front leg arms crossed. “I hate being the leader sometimes…”

“Oh,” replied Derpy, “you mean the time when we were in “Fluttershy’s” “dream”?”

“No,” said Hoops, “I mean last time.”

“Oh…” Derpy replied. “Man, why are these terms such a mystery to me?”

“Speaking of mysteries…” Dumb-bell intervened. “I think we have another one besides the shadow paladin now…”

“Yeah, I smell a rat about that R.A.P….”  Hoops threw in his cents. “I thought at first that she was just put here by Rarity as a guide to aid us on our quest, but now…”

“I can excuse her behavior being anything but normal,” said G.R.D., “but she acts nothing like Pinkie Pie would if she got turned into a robot alicorn in a different reality created by Rarity!”

“And let’s not forget that she yelled a lot and had a scroll!” Derpy added.

There was a pause...and then Hoops thought over that bit of information.

“Wait…” he said as he came to a conclusion. “I think I’ve got it now! Derpy, you’re as incredible as they say!”

“Aw, thank-wait.” Derpy responded. “Who’s they?! They better not be someone who thinks I’m stupid!”

“I give up…” a voice came from behind the mansion’s new front door as somebody from inside opened it up. “Are you guys ever going to come inside?”

Surprised and curious, the Dark Sky members looked inside the castle and saw the shadow paladin on his horse, but not armed with his spear.

“Woah…” they said. “What are you doing here?”

“Who knows?” the shadow paladin replied as a familiar gray ball formed in his empty right hand. “Like you implied, I’m a mystery. The bigger mystery than me though is why you left this behind…”

“Oh yeah…” the Dark Sky members felt silly as they recognized the gray ball as the orb they got from R.A.A.. “We keep forgetting that those things exist. After all, the main reason we came here was to stop Fluttershy from collecting the orbs and learning the horrible truth…”

“And what is your main reason for being in this world now?” the shadow paladin asked as he began smiling, tossing the gray ball in the air and catching it for fun. “You’ve already rid this realm of two of its heathens, so I’m assuming that you’ve resolved to become warriors of Fluttershy…”

“Not quite…” the group replied. “Before we make a decision like that, we want to know more about you. Who exactly are you? You trusted us enough to give us your power and even told us your backstory, but you’ve still never shown us your face…”

“Precisely,” the paladin replied. “But I assure you, it has nothing to do with distrust. My face is known to none who live, not even to my lord, Fluttershy.”

“?!” the group went as the shadow paladin began to utter another...poem?

???!

There was a friendly, but naive king

Who wed a very nasty queen

The king was loved, but…

The queen was feared.

Then one day, while he was strolling through his court

An arrow pierced the poor king’s heart

He lost his life, and…

His lady love.

“Did you…” Derpy said. “Did you just speak a song as a poem?”

“Yes.” the shadow paladin replied.

“You can’t do that!” Derpy exclaimed. “Not only is it not even your song, you can’t speak a song, that’s like trying to sing a poem!”

“Ha ha, I love you guys.” the shadow paladin said as he handed the orb over to Hoops. “Take good care of the orb. I know that with your strength and the clue I’ve given to you, you’ll have no trouble defeating Robot Alicorn Rainbow Dash. Till we meet once again…”

“Wait, what are these orbs really for?” Hoops asked, just as the shadow paladin turned to flashing light and disappeared. “And...of course, he’s gone.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” G.R.D. taunted. “He disappeared.”

“Rarity (for now) help me…” Hoops said as he put his front hooves on his face. “Alright, how do you think we should traverse this castle to get to R.A.R.D., Leader?”

“It’s simple,” G.R.D. replied respectfully to her subordinate. “This is a mystery mansion, right? All we have to do to is stay together as a gang and look for clues that will help us solve this mansion’s mystery!”

“But what is the mystery?” Dumb-bell asked.

“It’s right over there.” G.R.D. explained as she pointed to a puzzle. “There’s two button switches over there on that wall below an emblem painting. The emblem painting depicts a shadow dressed in the armor of a king on the left side, striking a familiar changeling queen named Chrysalis over the head with a strange jar on the right. Both the switches and the emblem painting are above a staircase decorated with a green and brown carpet-”

“Uh, Rainbow Dash…” Hoops interjected. “You do realize we can see all that with our own eyes, right? You don’t have to do our jobs for us…”

“Hey, don’t look at me.” G.R.D. replied defensively. “It’s not my fault that SOMEONE got lazy…”

...

The group went up the staircase GHOST RAINBOW DASH was talking about. Upon closer examination of the wall, they found a note that SHE forgot to mention below the painting and taped to the wall. Score tore the note off the wall and read it out loud with silence…

The Right Switch

Welcome, strangers. You’ve done well to make it this far, to the painting of Chrysalis

The way to the robot alicorn will open if you press the right switch

The right switch will bring you fortune, but…

The wrong switch will bring you doom.

The clue to find the right switch is in the song, find what you must sing

Turn it into a poem, find what doesn’t ring

Don’t lose your hope, and…

Don’t lose your lives

Out of curiosity, Score looked at the back of the note and found the song the shadow paladin uttered earlier written on it…

“What kind of poem was that?” Derpy complained. “The only words in it that truly rhymed were “sing” and “ring”!”

“Derpy!” Hoops exclaimed. “Not everything has to be a po- Wait...it mentioned a poem...what doesn’t ring...and that song from earlier...could it mean what didn’t rhyme?”

“But that can’t be, nothing in that song actually rhymed!” Dumb-bell reminded them. “What, are they trying to tell us that king rhymes with queen, or something?”

“Wait, king...queen…” Hoops muttered as he came to a realization. “The painting! It’s the left switch!”

“Oh yeah!” G.R.D. exclaimed as she came to a similar realization. “Because Queen Chrysalis is dead, all that’s left is the king! And the king’s on the left side of the painting! Good job, Hoops! Your guess helped me figure out the solution! Score, pull the left switch!”

“Actually, the way we were supposed to know was…” Hoops was cut off by Score pushing the left switch, which activated a resounding mechanism in the castle.

Meanwhile, on the top floor…

The bat pony sergeant was standing guard while R.A.R.D. was sitting on her throne, wondering what was taking the Dark Sky members so long.

“Man, what is taking those guys so long?” she pondered. “Either they came down with slacker disease, or that puzzle that new light dark knight recruit came up with was too hard for them…”

But the floor revealed that R.A.R.D. was wrong, for in it, a large hole was created right beneath her throne!

“Woah!” R.A.R.D. yelled as she jumped and flew up, watching her throne fall to the bottom floor through the hole. “I guess I got a third of that wrong...But hey, I finally get to fight-”

R.A.R.D. was interrupted as a spear shot up from out of a small hole in the bottom floor at lightning speed, piercing her through her left robot lung and impaling the wall behind her.

“GWAH!” she cried as she fell to the floor in pain.

“SIR!” the bat pony sergeant shouted as he immediately went over to the wounded cyborg.

“How did…” R.A.R.D. muttered, clutching her wound. “How did that hurt me? No ordinary spear can pierce my robot armor! Wait a minute, that light dark knight always carried a spear...could he have...”

Back on the bottom floor, the Dark Sky members saw what had happened there, and had overheard the commotion on the top floor, so they flew up there to see what had happened.

“Woah, so that’s what happened here…” they said after a quick investigation of the scene.

“YOU!” the bat pony sergeant yelled. “You injured my master before her fight with you even began! How callous and cheap can you get?!”

“Wait, she actually wanted to fight us?” they asked. “Is she like Robot Alicorn Twilight, where she tried to rebel against Rarity and Disc Horde’s plan?

“Fools…” R.A.R.D. said. “That was just an act...We all know everything about what Rarity and Discord are trying to do...they’re just using us as a way to use you to revive the power of the orbs…”

“Fine by us, whatever that means.” the Dark Sky replied nonchalantly. “Reviving the power of the orbs sounds like a good cause.”

“Oh, you guys…” R.A.R.D. laughed as she tried to get up and stand. “I’m going to enjoy seeing how Rarity and Discord have planned for you to kill me…”

“S-sir!” the bat pony sergeant grabbed R.A.R.D. as she stumbled while trying to stand. “Right now, you’re in no condition to fight!”

“Then you’re going to get me in condition to fight…” R.A.R.D. said with a sneer as her horn began to glow. “It’s time for us to merge…”

“But I’m not a cyborg like you!” the bat pony sergeant cried. “If we do that, I’ll become lifeless metal! Please...NNNOOOO!”

R.A.R.D. cast a spell on the bat pony sergeant that caused him and her to fuse together, forming...a Scott Pilgrim bot from Scott Pilgrim.

“MWA HA HA!” the Robot Alicorn Rainbow Dash Scott Pilgrim bot cackled. “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME NOW?!”

“I think you’re a disappointment, to be honest.” Dumb-bell gave his honest opinion. “I wanted something out of an anime! Or at least a manga! Hell, even something from a video game would’ve been fine…”

“SHUT UP!” R.A.R.D. Scott Pilgrim bot bellowed. “I feel so powerful right now, I could take on the whole world! But I think I’m going to start small with you guys! Take this!”

The Scott Pilgrim bot retracted his right hand to open up a hole in his arm, releasing a sleeping gas cloud wearing boxing gloves. The sleeping gas cloud flew over to Dumb-bell and tried to knock him out like Mr. Dream from Punch-Out!! would, but a shadowy aura exuding from Dumb-bell’s body repelled him, causing him to dissipate. There were a few moments of silence as R.A.R.D. held a look of embarrassment on her face…

“Maybe I should have read Scott Pilgrim…” R.A.R.D. muttered in regret.

“You think?!” Hoops replied as he and Score had taken R.A.R.D.’s Scott Pilgrim bot back in her moments of silence, and both of them grabbed her arms. “Let’s show them how it’s done guys!”

Dumb-bell, Ghost Rainbow Dash, and Derpy then turned to shadow aura-exuding mist, and fused together to form...a shadow mist dragon from...Yu-Gi-Oh!, I guess (G.R.D. doesn’t know that there’s an anime of it)!

“For killing your own soldier, butchering the source material of a comic, and everything else…” the shadow mist dragon spoke as it charged up a fiery breath attack. “YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH OUR WRATH!”

In desperation, R.A.R.D. tried to counterattack by pulling a pistol-like magnum out of herself and firing at the condensed burning shadow water, but it proved futile.

“AAAAAHHHHH!” R.A.R.D. Scott Pilgrim bot screamed as she was hit by the shadow mist breath and reduced to watery, dark pieces forming a pile of ash with an orb sitting on top of it. The orb, like the other two, had a strange lock on it, and also had black, orange, and gray colors in it.

“We did it!” shouted Hoops and Score as the other three Dark Sky members turned back to normal. “Now all that’s left to accomplish our mission is to find Fluttershy!”

“Not so fast…” a voice from the shadows that just appeared in the throne room said. “Your mission is already complete…”

“Huh?” the Dark Sky members responded. “Wait a minute, that voice...Robot Alicorn Pinkie?”

“No…” the voice laughed as its bearer stepped out of the shadows. It was R.A.P…..holding a scroll and doing a reality bending spell to transform into Rarity in her ninja outfit!

“I knew it since before we stepped into this mansion…” Hoops said. “You were Rarity all along…”

“Partially correct…” Rarity replied. “I am actually an exact clone of Rarity made from a human being with Body Mind Soul summoning. Transformed into Rarity’s body, mind, and soul, I share all of her physical features, thoughts, and inner feelings. When the real Rarity revived R.A.P., she fused her into my being with Body Mind Soul summoning, so that I can transform into her with a reality bending spell any time I want with this scroll.”

“But why did she do that?” Derpy asked.

“Rarity became R.A.P. partly to help you, and partly to become closer to you guys…” Rarity explained. “But we all know how WELL that turned out...grr…”

“What about Fluttershy?” G.R.D. asked. “Celestia told us she came here with the Interdimensional Police Department…”

“That was a lie,” said Rarity with a chuckle. “Fluttershy and the IDPD went to the World of Creation. The Rarity that is with them is also an exact copy of Rarity that was created from a human being with BMS summoning, but fused with Robot Alicorn Rarity. She’s gotten herself in trouble with a crazy shadow bard though, so I was just on my way to give her some help. I’m not going to leave everything to that energy drink addict...”

“But why did Celestia lie?” Dumb-bell kept up the questioning.

“She found out what Discord and I were up to…” Rarity explained. “So she tried to use you three to steal three of the orbs for herself behind our backs. Unfortunately, Discord found out what she was up to in turn, and put locks on all of this world’s orbs behind her back. Ha! Oh, if only she knew how powerful him and I really are…Speaking of Discord and I, we wish to ask you five of another favor concerning Celestia…”

“...” Score asked curiously.

“Huh?” Rarity responded. “Sorry, I couldn’t quite make that out.”

“I think what he meant was this…” Hoops intervened. “We’d be glad to do this favor of yours, but first, can you please tell us more about the orbs? Celestia told us that if Fluttershy and the IDPD got all six of them, they would be shown the way to their heart’s desire, finding Chrysalis’ killer. She promised us that if she got them, she would use the magic inside of them for her own personal reasons, preventing Fluttershy from ever learning who murdered Chrysalis and learning the horrible truth.”

“Oh yeah, about the “way to the heart’s desire”...” replied Rarity, “I made all that up. Everyone was in on that lie except for you guys, Fluttershy, and of course, Sky. It was exactly like the time I made up that stuff I told you guys to tell Sky back in the REAL World of Creation. But that’s not important for now...what’s important is that you guys know what those orbs are for. They are by far the most crucial part of the L.O.W. project’s success, for they open the gateway...to the last remaining copy of...Fluttershy’s soul.”

“...Woah.” the Dark Sky members said.

“I believe it’s time we got out of this place…” Rarity said as she pulled a scroll out of her outfit. “When we come back, I’ll tell you exactly what needs to be done...members of the Dark Sky.”

After Rarity chanted a spell, the mission finally ended.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Enigmatic Words from the Cloud Dragon of the Mist

Congrats reader, you know what happened to The Dark Sky at the start of their path towards being the world’s hope in the World of Evolution. It is now time to uncover the secrets of a brightly lit sky at night…

[Metal Snake]

Episode 11: The Murderer Revealed

The two paths shall finally come together, but only one, you must decide to be the light…

 

Everyone in the portal room except for the odd-looking Luna gathered around to ponder the meaning of all the hints in the orbs Fluttershy and the Interdimensional Police Department found in the World of Creation.

 

“Search the pattern, the numbers reveal the truth, Killers have a code, Yearning to reverse your fortune, you find a false hint…What does it mean?” Rarity asked with a grin as bright and vivid as a tangerine dropping into a pot of gold.

 

“I’m afraid I think I know what it means…” Fluttershy replied. “The murderer is…”

 

“...Sky.”

 

Sky froze in both fear and shock as everyone except Luna turned their attention to him.

 

“No…” Sky said. “How can it be me?”

 

“I’m afraid it’s true Sky…” Fluttershy responded. “I figured it out when we became King Sombra together...you and I are supposed to be identical in body, mind, and soul...but when I fused with you, I noticed something very off...only most of you became King Sombra, while I became all of him.”

 

“R-really?” Sky asked.

 

“Yeah, and I think I know why…” Fluttershy continued. “Didn’t Sombra mention that Fluttershy’s transformation into him was halted by Rarity? That’s what happened at the end of the dream...Rarity killed Celestia and tore my soul out. Because of that, I thought it was impossible for the dream to be real. But now, I’m putting two and two together and realizing something…”  

 

“And that is…?” Discord asked with a smile, knowing the response.

 

“The Celestia in this castle is an impostor…” Fluttershy explained. “And the Fluttershy who found the jar in the bedroom...was not me. It was you. You are not Sky. You are the real Fluttershy...and I am a clone made from a human being.”

 

“R-Really?!” Sky shouted.

 

“Yes...” Fluttershy said. “Though what I don’t understand is...the point.”

 

“I believe this is where I come in.” Rarity interjected. “You see, Discord and I wanted to turn you Sky, or should I say, the real Fluttershy, into King Sombra as part of a project that we, the creators of the universe are working on, the Lightly Ordered World project. Discord lied when he told you that he and Princess Celestia created this world...it was actually Discord and I. We wanted to turn Fluttershy into Sombra, but when Chrysalis was murdered, our plans were impeded and we had to revise the entire project. That’s why I pulled the plug on the whole “lost in time dream” thing, under the “ultimate revenge scheme” guise, and switched to a new “collecting orbs to solve a murder mystery” thing...”

 

“But why was he turned into Sky?” Fluttershy asked. “What was the point of that whole setup with him being in the middle of turning Rarity into an immortal or something?”

 

“Oh, that was just to tie in a few things and mess with him.” Discord said with a snicker. “Rarity asked me to do it for a “simple revenge scheme” because she’s secretly a bit sore about that whole thing with Fluttershy “getting her killed in the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world” ordeal. The Rarity in the basement was actually just a clone created from a human with Body Mind Soul Summoning, and the Dark Sky members were the ones who “rescued” her. Everything about Rarity and Sky being together was just a massive, obese lie, and the whole thing about the Dark Sky members being time travelers delivering a prophecy was just a joke to reference what we had originally wanted to do.”

 

“I guess that makes sense in a weird way,” said Sky, “but what does not make sense in any way is how this all adds up to me being Chrysalis’ killer!”

 

“Oh, that’s actually really simple.” Rarity replied. “Not only were you the prime suspect when you were Fluttershy, the three orbs we have now have given us a clue that basically says you’re the culprit. ...Fluttershy?”

 

“Right.” Fluttershy responded to her untold command, and rearranged the clues to form this…

 

Search the pattern, the numbers reveal the truth

 

Killers have a code

 

Yearning to reverse your fortune, you find a false hint

 

“Oh, they spell my name…” Sky realized as he lowered his head and accepted defeat. “I can’t argue with evidence like that…”

 

“It pains us to do this, Sky…” Discord said as he did a dramatic pose. “But for killing Chrysalis, we have no choice but to…”

 

But before the hammer of justice could be swung, cries of agony were heard from upstairs.

 

“YYYAAAHHH!” an unfamiliar voice cried. “HELP MMMEEEEE!”

 

“That voice…” Discord said, recognizing it, being an expert of the unfamiliar. “It’s him!”

 

Discord teleported himself and the group upstairs to where the crying was coming from...the Dark Sky’s practice room. Opening the door, he and the others found...the Dark Sky members playing their instruments as Celestia whined into a microphone death metal style.

 

You Can’t Comprehand

 

So here I am again!

Trying so hard, but I just can’t win!

Everyone tells me to just refuse!

But they don’t know what it’s like to lose!

 

You can’t comprehand my body!

You can’t comprehand my mind!

You don’t know what makes me whole!

Cause you don’t have my soul!

 

And they’ll scream “YYYAAAHHH! HELP ME!” .

Because they just can’t see!

The only one that can help me…

IS ME!

 

After the song was over, Derpy began to clap.

 

“Bravado, everyone!” Derpy complimented. “And bravo to your singing voice Joe, it’s as good as mine!”

 

“...Joe?” Fluttershy and Sky expressed confusion about the name while Discord expressed confusion about the sight.

 

“Hey, Fluttershy and that guy we barely know!” Dumb-bell exclaimed upon seeing the two. “Long time, no see!”

 

“What are you guys doing?” Discord asked. “How do you know that Celestia’s real name is Joe?”

 

“Actually, it’s Jason.” Celestia chimed in, now talking like a surfer. “And don’t worry Uncle Cord, the dudes from the sky are cool.”

 

“What he said, you don’t have to keep up the act around us, Discord.” Ghost Rainbow Dash welcomed informalities. “That Rarity clone told us everything, and I just want you to know that we fully support what you and Rarity are doing with the Lightly Ordered World (L.O.W.) project!”

 

“What’s she talking about…?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to Discord and Rarity, who both turned their heads away and whistled. Discord leaned in close to Rarity and whispered something in her right ear…

 

“They have all the orbs from the World of Evolution, correct?”

 

“Yes.” Rarity replied in a soft voice.

 

“Good boy,” said Discord as he gave Rarity a head-neck stroke as if she were a cat. “Now we no longer have to keep up this ridiculous act...It matters not if Fluttershy finds out now...we just have to make sure that her friends don’t outlive their usefulness…”

 

“Hey!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Why aren’t you answering me? What am I, a hunk of meat?”

 

“I thought you would have learned by now…” Discord replied, giving a sigh as he snapped the fingers on his claw. Fluttershy instantly became a giant, manly sausage with eyes, but not a mouth.

 

“Woah Discord,” said Hoops, “don’t you think that’s a little mean? Rarity told us that kind of thing was your sense of humor, but… you were ignoring Fluttershy when she was just asking you a question.”

 

“If you were to call me out on everything I’ve done in the past that was a “little mean”,” Discord responded, “we would be standing here talking until the cows came home. And trust me, their work schedule on the farm is severe…”

 

“This just keeps getting weirder…” Sky remarked as he curiously poked the squirming Fluttershy sausage. “And I think a lot of things are weird…”

 

“Oh, you just wait for the coup de grace, my dear friend…” Rarity said as she pulled out a reality-bending scroll, and proceeded to cast a spell on Sky that turned him into...a giant, ladylike marshmallow without a mouth. Everyone in the music room gave Rarity and Discord a disturbed glare.

 

“...” Score responded to what just happened silently.

 

“You said it best buddy,” G.R.D. spoke the truth. “No comment. All we can do is see where this is going...”

 

“Don’t worry,” said Discord to ease the tension, “we’re not going to leave them like that forever. And we’re not going to do something like that to you so long as you give us the orbs you’ve found.”

 

“You-you mean it?” Dumb-bell asked.

 

“Of course.” Rarity replied. “After all, you guys did help revive the orbs, and even helped keep Celestia’s human clone replacement calm after the Robot Alicorn Pinkie Rarity clone turned his mind back to normal. Just give us the orbs and we’ll let you be on your way…”

 

“Okay…” Hoops said nervously as he walked over to Rarity and gave her the two he had. “The Rarity clone we were with has the third…”

 

“So I know…” Rarity told Hoops what she was already aware of. “You guys may be on your way…”

 

But as the Dark Sky members got ready to pack up their instruments and leave the room, they noticed the R.A.P. Rarity clone standing behind them, chanting a reality-bending spell with a scroll in her hooves.

 

“...TO ANOTHER WORLD!” the R.A.P. Rarity clone finished Rarity’s sentence. “Reality Bending Spell No. ?! Reality Portal!”

 

With that, a dark sky hole opened up in the ceiling above the Dark Sky members and began to suck them in.

 

“Th-that’s the spell from earlier!” Dumb-bell shouted, recognizing something you may or may not know about. “NOT AGGAAIIINNN!!”

 

The rest of the group shared his unenthusiasm as all of them were sucked into the portal, which closed behind them. The only ones close to the group left behind were a star-struck Jason Celestia and the R.A.P. Rarity clone.

 

“Dude...I can’t do this kind of thing anymore…” Jason Celestia said as he began to feel woozy from all the insanity he had witnessed. “This is starting to feel like an LSD trip, and I’m still trying to get back into pot, man…”

 

Jason Celestia finally fainted, collapsing on the floor. The R.A.P. Rarity clone then walked over to Rarity and gave her the orb she had, along with a familiar wine glass that was empty. Rarity got an evil sneer on her face as she put both away in her inner pockets.   

 

“At last, we finally have all the orbs at their full power…” Rarity said as she and Discord turned to the polymorphed Fluttershy/Sombra duo.

 

“You two have done such a splendid job…” Discord complimented them. “I think you deserve a reward for all of your hard efforts...how would you like to meet our true selves...and our master?”

 

“!!” Fluttershy and Sky went with equal surprise.

 

Discord walked over to the Sky marshmallow and grabbed him while Rarity grabbed the Fluttershy sausage. Both of them teleported both of them to the portal room, and set them right by where the middle of the left portal and the right portal were. Discord made a portal appear in the middle just like he had done way back, only this time, the One in the frame of the portrait on the portal didn’t appear to be Fluttershy, but a familiar knight…

 

“Something really weird is going on here…” Sky thought as his attention was caught. “Why is that odd-looking Luna just standing there in that strange position?”

 

With that question, the odd-looking Luna revealed the reason why it looked so peculiar...it fell over, revealing that it was just a cardboard cutout of Luna.

 

“No…” Fluttershy said in her mind as she saw the sight as well. “They turned Luna into cardboard!”

 

“Ha ha ha…” Rarity laughed as she kicked the Luna cutout to the side. “Stupid girl got too smart for her own good...she’ll never learn that I know how to handle her all too well…”

 

“How can they do this...” Fluttershy said in her thoughts with disbelief. “This is awful...this is just...BAD!”

 

Fluttershy began to struggle in her sausage form, trying to break Discord’s spell on her. But even as she tried to turn into Sombra with shadow aura coming from all over her body, it was no use. Discord’s magic was too powerful.  

 

“Face it, Fluttershy…” Discord told Fluttershy as he went over to her and grabbed what would’ve been her face with his lion’s paw. “You may be strong, but your power is nothing compared to mine, much less compared to the One’s or even CrE’s. So why don’t you just be a good boy for daddy, and let the adults take care of what needs to be done…”

 

“Gggrrrrr…..!” Fluttershy grunted angrily in her mind until she realized something. “Wait a minute...what did he just say? The...One? Daddy?”

 

“Enough stalling, Discord!” Rarity exclaimed impatiently. “We’re throwing them in! Our real selves will restore them to normal once they’ve explained everything! For the real Rarity’s sake, the Dark Sky members will have CrE defeated by the time we’re done at the pace we’re going!”

 

“Wait, the Dark Sky members are still in this thing, even though they left?” Sky wondered in his mind. “That’s really weird, how is this whole thing going to end?”

 

Rarity and Discord picked the two of them up and tossed them into the portal. Fluttershy and Sky landed on a white cumulonimbus cloud as the portal behind them was sealed.

 

“And now, it’s time for us to fulfill our final purpose before we return to our true selves…” Rarity gave a grin of satisfaction as she took a look at the three orbs the Dark Sky members got for her.

 

“Going back from being Discord to being a part of Discord…” Discord thought about his fate. “Doesn’t sound like too bad of a downgrade…”

 

“I’ve gone from being a human to being Rarity to being Rarity mixed with a robot alicorn Rarity.” Rarity shared her experience. “And after all that, I get to be a part of Rarity.”

 

“It’s hard to believe now I was once the only chimera creature in Equestria…” the draconequus creature lost track of all the parts.

 

The two finally left Celestia’s castle and went to the front gate. Discord removed the locks on Rarity’s orbs (a few interesting conversations with the spirits of the orb-carriers later…), and with magic, the two of them levitated the six orbs into the six open slots on the castle wall. Once the orbs were all placed, the castle began to shake and rumble and the sky turned dark. It wasn’t dark for long though when the orbs turned brighter than ever, each one firing a laser beam into the sky that turned it bright white. Two dark portals opened in the sky, one on the left of it, one on the right of it in respect of the castle’s front clockwise position. While the sky was expressing itself, the denizens of the two worlds behind the portals were expressing their personal feelings as well…

 

“Wow, China looks weird!” Spike (from the original Fluttershy’s Dark Sky universe) shouted as he poked his head out of the left portal, thinking it led underground. “Nothing like in the cartoons!”

 

“Are you two the ones responsible for this hole?!” Luna (from the Transcending Fluttershy’s Dark Sky universe) shouted as she poked her head out from the right portal and looked at Rarity and Discord. “You do realize where my world takes place in, don’t you?”

 

Just then, Rarity and Discord began to contort and shrink into glowing white balls as the portal of the familiar knight appeared behind them. Two gauntlet-clad hands reached out of the portal, grabbed them both, and pulled them inside, the portal sealing behind them. In response to this sight, Luna and Spike had aghast looks on their faces.

 

“...Maybe I have been living a secluded life too long…” TFDS Luna said as she pulled her head back in and began to reflect on her life in the world of her own womb.

 

“It’s at times like this where I’m glad I only have short cameos in these sequels…” Spike remarked as he pulled his head back in.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Metal Snake

[Metal Snake]

Episode 12: The One

Fluttershy’s Ending (Part One of Two)

One who lit the way will help Fluttershy and Sky defeat the One…

The sound of a door to a cell could be heard opening now that all the orbs had been gathered as one.

“!” a familiar soul went in surprise.

“Come Fluttershy, or Sky, whatever…” said a voice that sounded like Rarity’s. “It’s time for you to meet SOMBRA…”

From where we left off a bit before the end of last time...

Fluttershy and Sky were still a sausage and a marshmallow respectively after they had crossed through the portal and landed face-down on a white cumulonimbus cloud. As the two grunted in discomfort, two figures of familiarity approached them, grinning with pleasure.

“Hello Fluttershy and Sky,” said Rarity and Discord, their voices revealing them as Fluttershy and Sky looked up at their faces. “Our master is expecting you…but not this...”

Rarity and Discord used their magic to transform Fluttershy and Sky back to normal. Fluttershy and Sky not only noticed Rarity and Discord’s familiar faces when they got up off the cloud ground, but also their peculiar attire. Discord was dressed in a white robe decorated with emblems of shields and had a tiara embedded with a shield-shaped jewel with the shape of a cross carved into it upon his head. Rarity was dressed in her black ninja costume from before, only this time, the black garb she wore on her chest was decorated with two emblems of open gold stopwatches, and her ninja headband had her sheathed sword through it so that Rarity could see it in front of her face.  

“So these are the true selves you guys were talking about…” Sky addressed the two.

“That means that the Rarity and Discord from before were clones made from magic…” Fluttershy deduced.

“Not exactly…” Rarity said with a chuckle. “ While the clones of me were indeed magic, they were also once human beings.”

“!” Fluttershy went.

“Yeah…” Rarity continued. “As you already know, while she was still the CEO of the Department of Human Resources, Chrysalis used her magic to summon humans to this world to be used as test subjects for Body Mind Soul summoning. But what you don’t know and what Sky has probably forgotten is that humans can also be converted into magical energy. Magical energy created from humans is what our clones were made from…”

“Now before you two swear at us in your minds,” Discord followed up, “I’ll fill you in on the fact that Rarity and I had no choice but to have our clones created that way. Normal, nonliving magical energy can’t be used to create a living being, and Celestia specifically requested that only human subjects be used for the experiments.”

“Wait, Celestia had a hoof in this too?” Sky asked, having forgotten a ton of things.

“Of course not Sky, she just had a hand in it!” Rarity jeered him with sarcasm. “Seriously, do you remember nothing from when you first got turned into Sombra?!”

“Well to be fair,” Sky replied, “my soul right now is-”

“Ugh!” Rarity grunted. “I guess it’s time for a recap…”

“A recap?” Fluttershy asked. “I...guess that would be nice considering the circumstances…”

“Indeed, everything has gotten a tad...disjointed,” said Discord, twisting his muscles as he stretched in relaxation, “one might say. I guess the only way you two will be able to comprehend everything is if I tell you the entire story in summary form, starting from...before the beginning…”

“Before the beginning…?” the Fluttershy duo pondered.

“With time, anything is possible…” Rarity remarked as the stopwatch emblems on her garb came to life and the hands on their clocks began to turn backwards. The Fluttershy duo ended up in a trance as Discord’s narration began...

The Story so Far

Narrated by Discord

Long ago, in a time unknown to history, the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky was a mess...Fluttershy and her allies learned that what they had gone through was not a dream...every pony in Equestria except Spike really was dead. Although Fluttershy and her friends overcame the terrible loss, they realized that this meant the pony race...was extinct. Being partly responsible for the tragedy, Fluttershy and her friends vowed to devote the rest of their dead lives to repopulating Equestria. Thusly, they went to the only pony they knew who might be able to do aid her in her cause for creating new life...the goddess of dea...I mean darkness, CrE.

Unamused by the recent drastic decline in the death...I mean life toll, CrE, bored and desperate for something to do with her job, agreed to help. She started helping by reminding Fluttershy that ever since she had filled out my tax forms with her free man pen, he had become pregnant. She also reminded her that with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony dead, the stoning spell had become undone, and he was free to bear Fluttershy’s child, a boy named Sky.

Now free, I also expressed boredom with the town’s desolate state, having no one to show his chaotic tricks to. So he too agreed to help, offering to use his chaotic power to its full potential, the power to bend time and reality, for the purpose of recreating life in Equestria. With my power, I showed CrE not only the portal to the human world, but also the power to create new worlds between the dimensions of the pony world and the human world…

Amazed by this, CrE requested that I give some of my chaotic, time-and-reality bending power to Rarity, promising that she had a plan to turn her into a god. She began abducting humans from their world and turning some of them into ponies, and all of the others into magical energy to give Rarity a new body and enough power to become a deity of time and reality. The only ones who objected to this part of the plan were you two and the members of the Dark Sky.

...

Shocked by what CrE was doing, you two and the Dark Sky members questioned her motives for sacrificing human lives to make Rarity and I deities. In response, she simply laughed and you that she had a destiny planned for each of you... It was then that she asked of Rarity and I to use the magical energy she got from the humans to create two alternate worlds designed to mentor you guys into the perfect servants for her. One was made for Sky, the other, Fluttershy and both you two and the Dark Sky’s abilities.

The first world, the world of Transcending Fluttershy’s Dark Sky, was designed for Sky, now fourteen years old thanks to Rarity’s time powers. Since Sky had not been around to witness the extinction of the Equestrian population, CrE asked Rarity and I to give it the illusion that it was part of the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky, and basically give Sky a simulation of the death, decay, and chaos Fluttershy had to witness. Other than that, Rarity and I had complete creative control...ha ha ha.

The second world, this world, the world of Light-I mean the World of Origin, was designed for Fluttershy and the Dark Sky members. Because CrE saw too much good in them, she asked me to create a world in which you would have to accept evil into yourselves in order to survive. Again, I was asked to give it the illusion that it was part of the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky, thus why we came up with the whole thing about Fluttershy  finding the jar and turning into Sombra. Chrysalis’ murder, however, was unrelated to us, and the whole traveling to the other Dark Sky worlds (actually just worlds we created) thing was something we came up with later when we had to revise the L.O.W. project. And so here we all are.

…

I think that’s about it…

Rarity ended the trance, causing Fluttershy and Sky to snap back to this reality, with everything that Discord had said embedded into their minds.

“So just to clarify…” Sky said. “This world is just an alternate reality created by you and Rarity, as well as the Transcending world. Everything we were told about CrE and the World of Origin prior to this was a flat-out lie, you turned me into Fluttershy, Sombra, and a murderer and came up with the portal traveling mission to get the orbs all for the sake of having a way for us to become accustomed to having Sombra’s power in us, and I’m actually you and Fluttershy’s son.”

“...Pretty much.” Discord replied with a smirk on his face.

“So...you’re satisfied with that?” Rarity asked with a smirk on her face too.

“I guess.” Sky answered.

“So that means you’ve figured out all the things we didn’t explain?” Rarity said with a chuckle. “You don’t find it odd that we made YOU into Fluttershy and Sombra in a world meant to test Fluttershy and the Dark Sky? Or the fact that you’re human even though you came from a pony and a draconequus? Or why Luna put Robot Alicorn Fluttershy in Fluttershy’s bed? Or why we sent the Dark Sky members through that portal? Or why my R.A.R. clone left a scrap of paper by Pinkie Pie back at the Maud Pie church? Or what all the orb messages meant? Or why it was only at the Maud Pie church that my R.A.R. clone’s bending spells were numbered? And most importantly, or why we’re disclosing all this information to you two?”

“Hmm, I’m really not sure…” Sky replied. “I guess now that you said it, there are some unanswered questions. What do you say Fluttershy?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy said as she felt something of hers had gone missing. “I think something fell out of my fur pocket while I was in that trance…”

“Well Fluttershy doesn’t seem to be confused…” Sky remarked on Fluttershy’s daze like a filmmaker’s memoir about living the dream. “I think we can figure out everything else along the way…”

“Nope,” replied Discord with a grin. “HALF of everything else. The other half is going to be figured out by your dear friends…”

“You mean…” Fluttershy and Sky said with astonishment. “The Dark Sky members?”

“Exactly,” Rarity confirmed. “But don’t worry, you’re at least going to get to learn your destinies and  why we went through all this trouble the way we did. That is, if you can defeat our master, the One…”

With that said, Rarity pulled a scroll out of her ninja outfit, and she and Discord grabbed it together with their magic. Once they both had a mystical grip on it, they began to chant these words as the hands on the two stopwatches on Rarity’s garb began to turn, and the shields on Discord’s robe began to gleam brightly…

“Body: ??? Mind: ??? Soul: ??? The One, ASSEMBLE!”

Once those words were finished being spoken, a familiar figure appeared in the middle of Rarity and Discord...the shadow paladin Fluttershy and Sky had transformed into in order to defeat R.A.F. at the end of Fluttershy’s Path. And he began to utter something lyrical that didn’t rhyme…

???!?

What a thrill

With darkness and silence through the night

What a thrill

I’m searching and I’ll melt into you

What a fear in my heart

But you’re so supreme!

I give my life

Not for honor, but for you!

In my time, there’ll be no one else

Crime, it’s the way I fly to you

I’m still in a dream, Snake Eater!

“You...you were the one on the portrait of the portal to this place!” Fluttershy and Sky shouted, not even needing to remember their experience on Fluttershy’s path to recognize him.

“Correct…” the shadow paladin replied. “And I am also the one who helped your Dark Sky member friends discover the power of Sombra, the one who helped them discover the importance of the L.O.W. project, and the one you two became at one point. I am...The One.”

“Wait, did you say the Dark Sky members?” Fluttershy asked. “Hold on...if you’re Discord and Rarity’s master...does that mean that YOU’RE the one behind all this, and not...CrE? Now I’m confused...unless...”

“Unless Discord and Rarity have betrayed CrE…” the One spoke what was on Fluttershy’s mind. “That’s right, the Dark Sky members were sent to the realm of CrE to fight her, just like you were sent here to fight me!”

“Huh?” Fluttershy responded.

“You were brought here because I wanted to challenge you to a duel…” the One explained. “And the winner of the duel will become the god of this universe.”

“How does that work?” Sky asked. “And besides, isn’t this just an alternate reality?”

“Like always, you know nothing…” the One responded as he tossed his shadow spear at...Fluttershy?!

[Metal Snake]

Episode 13: Fluttershy of Light and Darkness

Fluttershy’s Ending (Part Two of Two)

“Oh no, Fluttershy!” Sky yelled as he realized the shadow spear was going to hit her. He jumped in front of Fluttershy to shield her, and the spear pierced his heart, while stabbing a bit of a nonvital area of Fluttershy. In response to his mortal wound, Sky fell down on his back and started dying.

“SKY!” Fluttershy shouted as she overcame the pain from her mild wound to kneel down and clutch her dying comrade with her leg arms. “You have to use your Sombra powers to heal yourself!”

“I...I can’t…” Sky replied. “This spear is...making me feel less and less like Sombra...it’s really weird…”

“Hold still then!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she grabbed the spear and pulled it out as Sky grunted loudly in agony. “Now try!”

“I...I…” Sky said as he tried summoning his powers, but to no avail. “I still can’t do it…”

“HA HA HA!” the One laughed. “That spear is designed to suppress the dark powers of those it wounds! Even if you pull it out, its powers remain within you! Now that you two will not be able to transform, this duel is as good as mine!”

Fluttershy and Sky did not hear him, for his words were not real to them. Fluttershy just looked at Sky’s face with tears welling in her eyes.

“Sky…” Fluttershy spoke softly to the boy. “I know you would never kill even someone as bad as Chrysalis out of malice...and even so, I used the power of darkness to kill my robot alicorn self...I’m no better than you. I don’t blame you for me getting dragged into this...I just wish I could’ve learned more about you.”

“Thanks Fluttershy…” Sky replied as he began to shut his eyes. “I feel really good now, even though I’m about to die...isn’t that...really...weird…”

“..........”

Sky has died.

“SSSKKKYYYYY!!!” Fluttershy yelled at the top of her lungs as she looked up at the sky.

Fluttershy cried over Sky’s lifeless body as the look on Rarity’s face became somber, and even Discord looked down at the cumulonimbus cloud floor unhappily, feeling guilty. The only one filled with jollity at the sight of this scene was, you guessed it, the One.

“BWA HA HA HA GHA!” the One guffawed. “How glorious the sight of death and sorrow is! Thank you for reminding me that I need watch an opera again some time! On a serious note however, I’d like to start our duel now that we’ve had a little warm-up!”

“SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!” Fluttershy bellowed. “There’s no way I’m going to fight you!”

“W-what do you mean?!” the One yelled angrily. “We must have a duel, it is your destiny!”

“You don’t deserve to have your duel,” replied Fluttershy, “not after you dragged everyone into this shit and killed my friend! Just get away from me!”

“But...you...you can’t..duh…” the One began to stammer. “Rarity! Discord! Say something to her!”

“You did cheat by attacking before the duel even started…” Discord pointed out. “And you killed her comrade in the process...that’s pretty low, even in my eyes…”

“Not to mention her comrade happened to be my friend…” a frustrated Rarity added.

“Oh, whatever!” the One replied. “It doesn’t matter! If she doesn’t want to fight me, then I’ll make her fight me!”

The One then used magic to teleport his shadow spear back to his right hand, and charged at Fluttershy on his galloping horse. All of a sudden, part of the cloud floor turned to shadow and stopped the galloping horse in its tracks. Part of the shadow then crept up to the shadow paladin’s spear, and after getting a grip on it, turned it into shadow and absorbed it. It was then that another part of the shadow crept up to face the One as it grew eyes and a face...the face of Sombra’s!

“Fools…” Sombra hissed. “You are all foolish...You never even realized that I took the place of the real Fluttershy, or has you call him, Sky’s soul in her absence...I’ve just been lying in wait for the perfect moment to find the one being more powerful than CrE...so that I can transform you into myself and become the One! GWA HA HA!”

“Die trying…” the One said with a chuckle.

Sombra entered the One’s body and attempted to possess him, but to no avail. The One simply laughed as Sombra swum around in his body.

“W-what?!” Sombra shouted. “Why are you not becoming me?”

“Why are you not rhyming?” the One replied. “I like to do it all the timing…”

“?!” Fluttershy went in surprise. “Those words...that was one of Sombra’s rhymes from the “dream”...could it be…”

“GHA HA HA!” the One began laughing like King Sombra. “You guessed it...I am…”

The One began to take off his helmet. He revealed himself to be…

……….

FLUTTERSHY! DUN DUN DUMN!

……………..

That is what Fluttershy (the human clone, apparently) said.

“.....................You?” she asked. “I...thought it would be revealed that you were the original King Sombra, and that the one Sky and I turned into was just a clone made from a human.”

“Ha ha, no silly.” Fluttershy the One replied. “I’m the original, real Fluttershy from the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world. Who else would Rarity and Discord choose to become the One stronger than CrE? That’s the whole point of the L.O.W. project, to turn me into the god of the universe, the next CrE! The only reason I didn’t become Sombra when he possessed me is because of my strong will, and the only reason Sombra isn’t rhyming right now is because this isn’t the time and place for poetry. I learned how to resist evil by becoming evil.”

“But...that means I was wrong about Sky being the real Fluttershy…” the other Fluttershy realized. “Could that also mean I was wrong about him being the murderer? And about me being a clone made from a human?”

“I’m afraid so,” said the One. “The murderer is CrE herself, and you are my son...Soshy.”

“Wait…” the other Fluttershy said. “If I’m Fluttershy...and Sombra...no way…”

“I-” Sombra interjected as he realized the truth. “I AM YOUR FATHER?!”

“Again, ha ha, no silly.” the One said. “You’re Soshy’s mother. When your soul was brought back into a body restored from magical energy, I requested that Discord and Rarity make some...minor adjustments to the body for the pleasure of my freeman.”

“For the record,” Rarity chimed in, “I’m the one who used my time powers to speed up the pregnancy and make Soshy an adult.”

“And I did everything else…” Discord followed up as he got a huge grin on his face and put his hands together.

“YOU…” a now enraged Sombra said. “ALL OF YOU! YOU HAVE ALL HUMILIATED ME!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!”

Unable to possess the One, Sombra decided to try and possess Soshy next.

“IT MATTERS NOT HOW STRONG YOUR WILL IS…” he declared. “SO LONG AS YOU HAVE THAT RING I HAD YOU COLLECT, YOU’RE MINE!”

But again, Sombra was expelled from Soshy’s body as soon as he tried to possess her.

“WHAT THE…” he bellowed. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY RING?!”

Just then, Rarity whistled to Sombra. He looked over at her and saw something in her hooves...a glass jar sealed with a lid. The jar had the last remaining copy of Fluttershy’s soul in it...and a ring! Sombra gasped.

“SO THE JAR HAS IT…” he assessed. “GIVE IT BACK!”

Sombra flew straight over to the jar, and ended up possessing it. His soul appeared in the jar alongside Fluttershy’s, hovering just over the ring. Rarity and Discord pressed their right hoof and right hand down on the lid and used their magic to prevent Sombra from escaping the jar.

“DAMMIT!” he swore. “I NEED A BODY TO GRAB THE RING! LET ME OUT OF HERE!”

“Not a chance…” Discord taunted Sombra’s soul and stuck his tongue out at him.

“Now that we have all our magical energy from those clones being released, it’s time for the ultimate magic…” Rarity said as she got out a scroll that she had been saving for this occasion from her outfit. “The fusion of two souls that shall combine Yin and Yang, and tear both darkness and the light of deception apart…”

“WAIT, YOU’RE GOING TO COMBINE MY VERY ESSENCE WITH FLUTTERSHY’S?!” Sombra shouted as Rarity and Discord ignored his cry and began a chant. “BUT THAT MEANS I CAN NO LONGER BE MY OWN SELF! COME ON YOU GUYS!”

“It’s alright, Sombra.” Fluttershy’s soul said warmly, giving Sombra a hug. “I secretly kind of enjoyed becoming you way back, weird as it felt. And besides, we’re going to get to save the universe! Like a hero!”

“True, but this means I can no longer be a villain…” Sombra’s soul replied, a tear dripping down from him as Rarity and Discord finished their chant. “I always found that kind of life to be really thrill-AAAAAHHHHH!”

The spell started and Fluttershy and Sombra’s souls began to fuse together. The jar shattered and a giant flash of light spread all across the realm. Rarity and Discord teleported somewhere else as the light blinded the One and Soshy. When they regained their sight, they saw the result of the fusion...floating in front of them, was a soul containing both darkness and light.

“...That’s all?” the One asked.

“No… the soul answered. “Now that we are the spiritual form of the combination of Fluttershy and Sombra, we also require the physical form of the combination of Fluttershy and Sombra.”

“Wait…” Soshy said. “Do you mean...me?”

“Yes Soshy…” the soul replied. “Please...allow us into your body. The only way a being more powerful than CrE can arise is if Yin and Yang’s physical form and spiritual form unite as one. Sky lives on as the Fluttershy within us...please join us...it’s the only way to stop the One and CrE from ruling over the universe with evil!”

“...Sure, come in me.” Soshy agreed. “I’d love to see Sky again, and anything is better than letting either of those two have the universe.”

“Thanks Soshy…” the soul said as it entered Soshy’s body. “It feels really good...knowing that you want to stop them...that you want to combine darkness and light to stand up against evil...there shall be no more Soshy...there is only one three-in-one…

Fluttershy. After the soul and Soshy fused together, they became Fluttershy dressed in a shadow black sock hat, black pants that said “New” on the left leg, and “Sky” on the right leg, a bright white shirt that said “Shy Darkness” on the back and had an emblem of dark clouds in a misty sky on the front, and last of all, a dark red robe with white lace and an insignia of a shadow dragon shooting a beam of light from it’s mouth on it.

“I...can feel your power…” the One said as he saw and sensed an aura of darkness and light exuding from Fluttershy. “And it’s beyond anything I could ever achieve, even after I sold my soul to evil for a chance to stop CrE…”

“Sorry, my old self…” Fluttershy apologized as she put her hooves together, darkness and light aura charging up in them and brimming radiantly. “You must die to me…”

And so, the darkness and light aura finished charging, and Fluttershy shot a concentrated beam of dark energy mixed with light aurora, dark skies mixed with light stars, and dark sunlight mixed with light solar-eclipsed moonlight at the One. He disintegrated, he died. However, that was not before he said this…

“I finally get it now. The One is not me or you…our destiny is...”

…

It was over. Fluttershy looked at the scene and saw that all that remained of the One was ash that fell through the cloud floor, and the ghost of his horse. The horse tread over to Fluttershy and showed her a slip of paper in his mouth. Fluttershy took it out of there and read it. It said this…

I gave my destiny to Rarity...she must have left it where Maud lives…go there if you wish to find it…

“...” Fluttershy went as the note and the horse vanished. Soon after, Rarity and Discord teleported back from where they had gone to, along with five familiar figures, the Dark Sky members, and one that might be unfamiliar, an unidentifiable shadow.  

“The One’s dead, isn’t he?” Rarity said, knowing so because the hands on the right stopwatch on her garb had stopped moving.

“It’s sad it had to be this way…” Discord remarked. “And funny, too! Seriously, out of all the ways Rarity and I thought about going about the L.O.W. project, this was my all-time favorite!”

“Great job, Fluttershy!” Ghost Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “You are almost as awesome as me now!”

“...” Score described how glorious Fluttershy’s victory was silently.

“You won!” Derpy tried giving an even more detailed description.

“Even CrE’s impressed by your victory!” Dumb-bell added.

“Speaking of CrE…” Hoops said as he looked over at the shadow. “I think she has something she wants to say to you...don’t you CrE?”

The shadow lowered its head in despair and remorse.

“Yes, I am CrE, and I am deeply sorry for everything I have done…” CrE apologized sadly to Fluttershy. “The Dark Sky members showed me the error of my ways in my fight with them. I completely abused my powers and forced all of you to do terrible things. I’m even to blame for Chrysalis’ murder and your true self becoming evil. I can understand why Rarity and Discord betrayed the One and I. I promise to stop what I am doing with the humans, but I feel that isn’t enough to show them or you that I’m truly sorry. I feel that you’re the one who deserves to be the god of the universe. Even if you don’t forgive me, I would like to resign and leave my position to you.”

“I do forgive you…” Fluttershy replied. “But you can still have your position…”

CrE immediately shook her head.

“No…” she said. “You still do not know the level of my wrongdoing. Maybe one day, I, or even the Dark Sky members will be able to tell you...for now, farewell.”

After that...

CrE vanished, never to be seen again. Soon after, everyone went back to the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world.

Rarity and Discord returned all the humans who wanted to go back to the human world back to normal and sent them home. Soon after, the portal to the human world was closed. Rarity and Discord then promised to devote a decent amount of time of their lives to making the lives of the pony humans who stayed happy as penance for their deeds.

Sky and Sombra are still one with Fluttershy, and Sombra is slowly growing to enjoy it.

Jason Celestia is now in possession of the cardboard cutout Luna. With every day, he grows more doubtful that it really is Luna transformed into cardboard…

Spike is still glad he only had a minor role in this story.

The Cadence and Shining Armor clones were brought to the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world to helping increase the birth rate in Equestria. They are enjoying their task almost too much…

The Maud Pie clones became Fluttershy’s messengers, and are now preaching the word of how Fluttershy evolved to where she is today. How they manage to make the story both dull and enjoyable to so many is a mystery…

The Pinkie Pie clone stopped by Fluttershy’s house one day to give her what was now a slip of paper...

The Dark Sky members became Fluttershy’s right and left-hand men. They have recently asked her to sing a song with them again for old time’s sake.

Fluttershy accepted their request, asking for them to sing the song that was on the slip of paper…

Destiny of Darkness and Light

I think it all started when Rarity died

To my killer’s code, I couldn’t abide

Soon everyone left...and I couldn’t see

Was it all my fault...or just destiny?

I needed more ponies, to be here with me

So a ruler of death, I asked to be CrE

I devised a plot to become the One

And deceived everyone, even my son

I made Sky a human (and a fake me), so that he’d never know

That he had a father (referring to me), who would have to go

CrE wanted me to become a god

A path towards evil, I would have to trod

As the ruler of death, CrE called Sombra’s soul back

And we bore a child, with a soul white and black

I would be the villain, he would be the hero

Even at my grave, he would not shed a tear, no…

…

Now I am a god living on in my son

Everything is at peace...now that the deed is done

Discord, Rarity, Dark Sky, me...we were all the One

I sincerely hope...that our journey was fun…

 

Fluttershy’s Ending: The End

EPILOGUE

Everyone in Fluttershy’s house was at a loss for words.

“I remember...everything now…” Fluttershy said as she got a huge grin. “My plan worked perfectly! I am now completely pure...I AM NOW GOD!”

“Fluttershy…” the Dark Sky members replied. “We don’t believe it…”

“I CAN FINALLY CREATE MY WORLD OF IMMORTALITY!” she exclaimed, happier than she had ever been in her life. “AND I OWE IT ALL TO THEM AND YOU! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA GEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH GHA FWA BWA MWA LWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!”

Sitting on the moon together in the bright-night sky, Rarity, Discord, and the Goddess of Death, Prince Luna could hear the laughing, and they in turn, smiled.

“I love how jolly we’ve made Fluttershy…” Rarity said.

“I just love happy endings.” Discord gave his intake.

“And so it finally begins…” Prince Luna looked down at the citizens of Equestria and gave an evil smile. “The new chronicles of the lightly ordered world…”

The Final Enigmatic Words of the Cloud Dragon of the Mist

Thank you so much reader for what you have done...you saw Fluttershy’s story out to the end. This may be the ending of Fluttershy’s story, but an ending is only the start of a new beginning.

The new beginning of Fluttershy’s story is now guaranteed to be filled with magic, happiness, and many other beautiful things. For that, you are a true hero.

Now that you have brightened Fluttershy’s dark sky, will you choose to learn the ending of the story of the Dark Sky? It's your decision. May your night be bright…

[Metal Snake]

Episode 14: The True Murderer

The Dark Sky’s Ending (Part One of Two)

The murderer is disguised in the form of a shadow, bearing darkness and light…

The Dark Sky members fell from the dark portal in the sky, and ended up in the realm of CrE. When they had finished falling, they landed on a dark cumulonimbus cloud. The sky above them, on the cloud’s contrary, was bright white from the beam that was erected into the air after the orbs were set. And as opposed to last time, where the Dark Sky members got huddled when they fell and got lazyitis, this time, they got muddled together and got the drive to get up straight away.

“Wow guys, we’re making progress!” Derpy complimented them, feeling as impressed as a journalist getting his hand stuck in a fax machine and interrupting the printing of a resume.

“Correction,” Ghost Rainbow Dash responded, “you guys are making progress. I have nothing to make progress on. I’m dead and I achieved my goal in life...becoming as awesome as myself!”

“Oh I get the joke,” Derpy assumed G.R.D. was trying to humor her. “The original Rainbow Dash from the TV show’s goal in life was to become a Wonderbolt!”

“TV show?” G.R.D. asked. “I was on TV? Was this in another reality, or something?”

“Speaking of realities,” Dumb-bell chimed in, “we never really touched upon this whole alternate reality stuff. I wonder if CrE will tell us all about it in-depth.”

“...” Score confirmed Dumb-bell’s suspicions silently as he pointed at a shadowy figure walking towards the group and transforming into a familiar pony.

“Oh,” said Hoops, “hi…”

LUNA.

Just like that, Luna was in front of the Dark Sky members, clad in shining, bright-white, holy armor that had been blessed by a god (Rarity). It turns out that she was CrE the whole time, wouldn’t you know.

“Greetings,” Luna greeted with a malicious grin on her face, “my subordinates of the night. I almost expected you to not be here.”

“We entirely expected to not be here…” Dumb-bell told her the situation. “Rarity and Discord threw us in here at the last minute without even telling us. I almost feel like we don’t belong here…”

“Ha ha.” Luna laughed. “And why is that? Do you not feel it is your place as the heros of the dark to cast divine judgment on the villain of the light?”

“Wait…” Derpy said. “You’re the bad guy now?”

“I’m not THE bad guy…” Luna replied. “Just like how you are not THE good guys. Strange, isn’t it? How both of us have done things vital to the progress of both THE bad guy and THE good guy, and yet...we are in their shadow. That is our true form, shadows. We may as well be the very darkness that mimics our every move…”

“Blah, blah, blah, yawn.” G.R.D. tried summing the whole thing up. “Can you just please get to the point?”

“Do you want me to touch upon stuff in-depth or not?” Luna asked. “Besides, I was just about to get to the good part...the telling of how I carried out my most devious deed…”

“Fine…” G.R.D. said with a sigh. “Just please tell us the explanation of how and why you’re the one who murdered Chrysalis, and make sure to give me legitimate reasons to call “bullshit” on it! I get a lot of enjoyment out of pointing out the flaws in people’s facts!”

“If you insist…” Luna replied as she prepared to tell the entire true story…

 

The Murderer is…Luna

That’s right...I’m the murderer. Sky wasn’t the one who killed Chrysalis like Fluttershy (as you may know her) thought. Fluttershy was in too much of a hurry to come to the conclusion that Sky was the killer, for a part of her was worried that the killer was actually her. If only she had looked deeper and had seen the false clues I had left behind alongside the real ones…

The first clue, “Search the numbers, the pattern reveals the truth.” , meant to go back to the only place where numbers were used, at the Maud Pie church. The numbers used there, in order, were… 12 21 14 1. All of those numbers have a pattern, in that they all contain the number “1”, all contain the digits “1-4”, and can all be formed by adding up four ones in a variety of ways. Four ones...four who were involved in an illicit plan to change the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world (new name for the World of Creation to avoid confusion) forever. Discord, Rarity, me, and another...the One.

The second clue, “Killers have a code”, meant that the numbers have a code to them. And what better code could they have than the alphabet? L is the 12th letter of the alphabet, U is the 21st letter of the alphabet, N is the 14th letter of the alphabet, and A is the 1st letter of the alphabet. You read the numbers like a word, and they spell my name!

The third clue, “Yearning to reverse your fortune, you find a false hint.”, was just a safeguard to give a clue to Fluttershy that Sky was not the killer just because his name was in the clues. If you read the nonsense that was being spoken at the beginning of each chapter backwards, you would get this…

So...You are reading this.

Klaus bartz aho!

You will tell the orb.

That spells “SYKY”, not “SKY”. And why would I reuse the same pattern for a bogus hint for a real hint?

I think you may be wondering now...why did I do all of it? My motive was simple...Chrysalis betrayed me. In this reality, I made her and Celestia the villains behind the plot to bring humans to this world to be turned into Centauroths, to represent what was going on in Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world. In the end, it was supposed to her who Fluttershy fought. But Chrysalis became greedy, and started using humans as magical energy to take into herself so she could become powerful enough to take over not just the World of Origin, but the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky! I tried to reason with her, but in the end, there was nothing I could do to stop her…so I killed her.

After I used my CrE powers to dispose of Chrysalis, I entrusted her subordinate Celestia with the role of being the World of Origin’s villain. Unfortunately, she followed in Chrysalis’ footsteps by trying to create progeny with Fluttershy to create a being more powerful than I. This time, I was not fortunate enough to learn of her treachery ahead of time, so Rarity had to step in and use her time and reality bending powers to eliminate her. She also stole Fluttershy’s soul and removed Sombra from it, worrying that a Fluttershy contaminated with evil would be too powerful to contain after all. While our plan for the L.O.W. project underwent great revisions, we sealed Fluttershy’s soul away in a hidden cell in Celestia’s castle with a lock that would only break once the orbs at the front of the castle regained their power…and so ends my tale.

“Any questions?” Luna asked, following her tales denouement.

“Yes,” G.R.D. replied. “There’s a lot of stuff in of your story that I don’t get...like why were only the orbs in the world Fluttershy went to filled with hints? What if she had ended up in the World of Evolution, where all the orbs were locked?”

“She couldn’t have gone to the WoE,” Luna explained, “thanks to the help of the human clone we made to be Celestia’s replacement. The wine that she always carried around in that glass was actually a liquid that could temporarily stop the time of whatever it was spilled around. The portals Discord and Rarity created are bound by the laws of time, so Celestia just spilled some around the portal to the WoE. And there are clues in the other orbs...ones meant for YOU guys that Discord and Rarity didn’t want you to see. I’m sure you’ll find them soon, heh heh.”

“Why were you a police officer though?” G.R.D. continued her questioning. “Also, on our way back home from the WoE, Rarity’s Robot Alicorn Pinkie clone said something about you putting Robot Alicorn Fluttershy in a bed.”

“Oh yes…” Luna replied. “Keep in mind, we were trying to put on an act, for Fluttershy and that Jason Celestia clone. She was suspicious of us plotting to make Fluttershy a god, so we gained her trust by becoming her subordinates and getting her to believe that the only Fluttershy who was still alive was the one she transformed into R.A.F., the one from the World of Origin. Why Rarity switched R.A.F. out for Fluttershy on me and made her an orb-carrier without telling me though, I don’t know. There would’ve been no point...R.A.F. is also a clone of Fluttershy made from a human, so she shares all her thoughts and memories. When I tried to ask her about it, she threw a smoke bomb on the ground, confiscated my Magic Eater guns and banished me here. And now that you guys are here, my suspicions are confirmed…”

“What suspicions?” Dumb-bell asked, breaking G.R.D.’s line of questioning. “Do you think we’re spies?”

Luna shook her head.

“No,” she said, “I just believe that Rarity and Discord have betrayed me and have sent you here to kill me.”

“Oh, phew.” Derpy said, wiping a bit of sweat from her face. “That’s not as bad as US being the bad guys.”

“Do your math, Derpy…” Hoops requested of her. “If we were sent here by Rarity and Discord, that means we WORK for the bad guys.”

“So I am evil after all…” Derpy concluded. “I knew I couldn’t trust myself!”

“Not that it really matters anymore…” Luna remarked. “Fighting for good or fighting for evil...it no longer matters so long as we get to fight.”

“Fight?!” the Dark Sky members exclaimed. “But Luna, we can’t fight you!”

“But thou must.” Luna said, not quoting the Luna from the TV show as she summoned a Centauroth and a bat pony to her left and right side respectively. “I am CrE...and the Dark Sky’s final mission as described in the Lightly Ordered World project is to kill CrE...that is if she does not fall before the One.”

“?!” the Dark Sky members went. “Wait, he was the one you mentioned in your story...is he the one who’s really behind all this…?”

“Forgive me for withholding my patience…” Luna replied, mixing up the words she spoke from the TV show as she began to polymerize herself with the Centauroth and bat pony using her magic. “But I grow weary of conversation...IT IS TIME FOR US TO DO BATTLE!”

With that, Luna completed her transformation into a bright white dragon with bat wings, the body of a horse, and some facial features of a handsome woman. She opened her mouth and began to charge up a beam of dark, shadowy, holy aurora.

“...” Score communicated battle tactics with the group silently. In response, the group transformed into mist together, so that when the beam hit them, it would be...reflected back at Luna?!

[Metal Snake]

Finally, it is time for the finale of Lightening Fluttershy's Dark Sky. And as some of you might already know, this anthology will be going on hiatus after this. As much as I enjoy sharing my stories with you guys, there's other stuff I need to be pouring my time into right now...including two new stories I want to share with you eventually.

Episode 15: Soul of the Dark Sky

The Dark Sky’s Ending (Part Two of Two)

The One has chosen the paths he has tread…

From where the beginning of this ending last left off, the holy beam was reflected back at Luna.

“NNNNNOOOOO!!!” Luna bellowed as the holy beam came back at her, destroying her entirely. All that remained of her was her armor and a familiar sword that fell to the side.

“LUNNNNAAAAA!!!” the Dark Sky members cried as they changed back to normal and ran over to where her armor laid with tears welling in their eyes. Dumb-bell picked up her white helm and began to cry over it.

“Why did it have to be this way?!” he shouted. “You were like a teacher to us, you didn’t have to leave us like that!”

Ghost Rainbow Dash floated over to comfort Dumb-bell as something caught Derpy’s eyes. Quickly, she directed Score and Hoops’ attention to the sword that fell to the side. It was no ordinary familiar sword...it was a familiar blade. And where the blade was, a shadow began to rise from the dark cloud floor in a familiar way…

“Uh, guys…” the three tried to alert Dumb-bell and G.R.D.. “I don’t think Luna left-GAK!”

Derpy, Score, and Hoops fell to the ground as the shadow swooped towards them and sliced them with the blade in a circular motion. Hearing the cries of their comrades as they hollered in pain, G.R.D. and Dumb-bell turned around to see the shadow turn back into Luna. She was no longer a dragon, but she still had bat wings and a handsome human face.

“Ha ha ha!” she laughed as she twirled her blade around for fun. “Did you really think you had me? I may be CrE now, but I’m still the Goddess of Death! I wanted to be felled in battle, for it is in death that I become more powerful!”

“But I kind of already knew that…” Dumb-bell replied. “I didn’t think that we had really killed you, I  thought that you had just given up and left.”

“Yeah, this was stupid what Rarity and Discord did.” G.R.D. remarked. “How are we supposed to kill an immortal goddess?”

“Their idea of killing is obviously different than yours…” Luna said with her right hoof on her face. “JUST LIKE MINE!”

Luna then charged towards the other two and stabbed them both. Yes, even G.R.D. felt the blade enter her chest.

“That’s right…” Luna said as she pointed to the other three with her blade, pointing out that they had no cuts on their bodies. “This is the spirit blade Rarity used to pull out Fluttershy’s soul. She gave it to me specifically for this fight because she didn’t like it very much compared to another sword she found. I think you know what’s going to happen next...HAH!”

Luna thrust the blade out of both of them, causing G.R.D. to fall to the cloud floor from her injury, and Dumb-bell’s soul to become detached from his body. Wounded as well, his soul fell beside G.R.D..

Luna laughed as she went back over to Derpy, Score, and Hoops, and stabbed each of them individually.

“DETACH! DETACH! DETACH!” she declared as she removed their souls from their bodies and left them lingering on the floor wounded. She then gathered up all their bodies in a pile as their souls passed out. It seemed that the murderer had triumphed…

However, hope remained somewhere far, far, away…at a church filled with Maud Pie clones made from humans. Their services had still been going on since their original god turned out to be evil and died when Fluttershy and the police officers came, and all the church members became real Maud Pies. They had decided since then that they would now worship new gods, the ones who created the world they lived in, Rarity and Discord. They were in the middle of communion (done by consuming a gem and chocolate milk now), when all of a sudden, there was a disturbance…

“I feel that something is not right.” the new leader Maud Pie said. “Whatever it is, it feels wrong.”

“Oh dear, I think it might be my fault…” Pinkie Pie said as she looked in her fur pocket and noticed that the scrap of paper Rarity had left her was beginning to shake and glow. A flash of intense light blinded her and the Maud Pies as two figures they knew came out of the paper, transforming it from a scrap to a slip. The figures were Rarity and Discord, and they were dressed in a different attire than normal. But that’s only important depending on how you’re reading the story…

“Hi guys.” the leader Maud Pie responded to the abrupt appearance of the gods. “Why did you come here?”

“The Dark Sky members need your help.” Rarity explained. “They’ve been badly wounded in a fight against CrE, a contemporary enemy of ours.”

“Any enemy of you guys is an enemy of ours.” the leader Maud Pie replied. “Please tell us what we need to do.”

“We’re going to send you to CrE’s world alone right now.” Discord said. “Use the powers we gave you to heal the Dark Sky members, while we and your subordinates stay here and pray for reinforcements! Oh yeah, and feel free to use THOSE if you wish...”

“Understood.” the leader Maud Pie said as Discord and Rarity prepared the dark portal reality-bending spell and teleported her to CrE’s realm.

“Now that it is just you, your gods, and Pinkie Pie…” Discord spoke to the crowd of Maud Pies. “It is time for us to pray.”

“It’s because of our powers over time and reality that we found the time to mentor all of you…” Rarity said. “DO NOT LET IT GO TO WASTE! COME! Let us call for the help of the orb-carriers!”

The Maud Pies in the church nodded their heads in agreement as they bowed them and began praying for the six spirits inside the orbs on the front of Celestia’s castle to help the Dark Sky members. Knowing that Rarity and Discord were there with them, they obeyed and went to CrEs realm. When the spirits arrived there, they saw the leader Maud Pie healing the Dark Sky member’s souls by praying to them. Once the Dark Sky members were fully healed, they got up off the cloud floor.

“Uh…” the Dark Sky members’ souls groaned. “What happened?”

“You got stabbed and sliced in the soul.” the leader Maud Pie elaborated. “You should be fine now though.”

“Thanks.” they said politely. “Where are our bodies though?”

“The bat-human-horse chick has them.” the leader Maud Pie replied as she pointed to Luna meditating by the pile of the Dark Sky members’ bodies in the distance. A holy white aura began entering Luna’s body, causing her to regain her dragon features…

“The end is coming…” Luna said with a whisper.

“Damn it!” Hoops swore. “She’s going to destroy our bodies! What can we do?”

“Get back into them.” Maud Pie suggested. “I’ll help you get over there in time.”

“But how-w-WOAH!” Dumb-bell exclaimed as Maud Pie grabbed and rolled him into a ball shape. She then used her strength to throw him back into his body without alerting Luna. She did the same for Derpy, Score, and Hoops, until she was finally down to Ghost Rainbow Dash.

“I...don’t see your body.” Maud Pie told G.R.D. “You must really be dead then, huh? I’m sorry for your loss...”

“Don’t worry about it, I…” G.R.D. paused as she saw Maud Pie gathering magic in her hands. “W-what are you doing?”

“My power has finally returned!” Luna exclaimed as she fully regained her shadow dragon chimera form. “And now, Dark Sky members, your bodies are FINISHED!”

Luna prepared and fired a holy beam breath attack more powerful than the last one, but not before Maud Pie was able to throw herself over to the group in time. With the group together, they were able to transform into mist and reflect the beam back at Luna. This time however, she moved to the left and dodged it.

“WHA-? HOW-SON OF A BITCH!” Luna shouted angrily as she tried to kick the mist, but it floated up into the sky out of her reach. Frustrated, she tried to calm down by meditating as the Dark Sky members talked to each other in the mist.

“So wait, how did that work?” Derpy asked. “I thought we could only transform into mist if we were all together.”

“DON’T ASK.” Maud Pie replied in G.R.D.’s voice.

“It’s funny how Luna’s getting so frustrated when actually, we’re the ones at a disadvantage…” Hoops pointed out. “As ordinary mist, we have no offensive power, and even if we turned into a shadow mist dragon, she’s stronger than us by a long shot! We’d be annihilated by that holy beam! The only way we could possibly win is by being a mist that can’t be hurt by that beam and being stronger than her!”

“What do you think we’re here for?” six voices in the sky asked.

“Huh?” the Dark Sky members went as they saw six spirits enter their mist body. Immediately, they found themselves feeling bigger, harder, better, faster, stronger, and smarter!

“So algebra is math?” Derpy responded to gaining new knowledge. “I always thought that it was advanced english!”

“Three of those voices...” Dumb-bell said. “Are you guys…?”

“Yeah,” replied the spirits, “we’re the spirits of all the orb-carriers. You may not recognize God Maud Pie, Princess Shining Armor, and Robot Alicorn Fluttershy, but that’s beside the point. We’ve given you everything you need to defeat CrE!”

“We kind of already knew about R.A.F.,” said the Dark Sky members, “but thanks!”

It was then that the Dark Sky members began to transform from mist into...a white mist dragon!

Descending from the sky, they roared at Luna, disrupting her meditation and grabbing her attention.

“FOOLS!” Luna bellowed. “I meditated long enough for one more blast! Now that you’re no longer mist, you’re doomed!”

Luna used the same holy breath attack again, and again, it didn’t work. This time though, it didn’t work because the Dark Sky members’ dragon form ABSORBED it.

“You…” Luna stammered. “You have the element of holiness within you?! Have you become...gods?”

“NO LUNA…” the Dark Sky members replied. “WE ARE WHO WE ARE. FAREWELL…”

Now having even more power than ever from having absorbed Luna’s breath attack, the Dark Sky members breathed a blast so powerful that it almost entirely destroyed Luna, reducing her to a dazed ghost lying on top of a pile of ashes. The Dark Sky members transformed back to normal and gathered around her.

“Now are you going to give up?” Dumb-bell asked. “You’re not going to revive yourself again in some desperate attempt are you?”

“She can do that?” Maud Pie said in her own voice. “Then I don’t think so…”

Maud Pie pulled out two familiar dark-blue guns from her robe and pointed them at Luna.

“So that’s what Rarity did with my Magic Eaters…” Luna realized as she sighed. “Not that it matters...I give up. You guys win.”

Just then, with yet another flash of light, Rarity and Discord teleported behind the group.

“So, my garb speaks the truth…” Rarity said, looking at the right hourglass on her black, hourglass-emblem decorated garb, which was not moving unlike the left hourglass. “You guys actually beat CrE…your story has concluded…Fluttershy is back to normal and ready to defeat the One...soon you will all be back home again together...”

“Fantastic work you guys, that shot was one in a million!” Discord complimented them as he mixed soda with yogurt.

“...I don’t get it.” Derpy said as everyone just stared at Discord.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that.” Discord said with a smile. “We all have our own, distinct sense of humor!”

“Why did you guys betray me?” Luna asked. “I never knew you were already so much stronger than me…”

“Not really,” Rarity humbly responded to both things. “We’re just a lot better at bending time and reality. The only reason we deceived you is because we wanted to see how powerful the Dark Sky members really were...and heh heh...you know.”

“Hmm?” Hoops thought. “Could she mean…”

"I understand..." Luna replied with comprehension before turning to the Dark Sky members. "Dark Sky members, I am sorry for the trouble I caused all of you. The real reason I wanted to kill you is because I wanted to have your souls with me for as long as I could. I just wanted us to hang out like we used too...but that's in the past now. I am no longer your leader...you have all surpassed me, and you each have your own destiny to fulfill now...just please never forget that we were once the Dark Sky..."

The Dark Sky members paused for a moment and smiled. They walked over to Luna and gave her a group hug.

"Thanks Luna..." they said to their former master warmly. "We're glad now that Rarity and Discord brought us here. We have so many to thank for the strength we have now...but if it wasn't for you, who brought us together in the first place...we would have never learned the greatest strength of all...the power of unity. You are the soul of Dark Sky, Luna. That's why we're going to keep our team name...in remembrance of you."

With that, Luna became teary-eyed.

"I love you guys..." she told them. "You have done so well..."

“We’ve all done very well…” Discord said, wanting to be included in the group. “I think it’s time we sent us all home, a job well done. Does anyone have something to say before we go?”

“...” Score reminded Maud Pie about something silently.

“Oh yeah, I have one more question.” G.R.D. interjected as she came out of Maud Pie’s body. “Something that we never covered...what were you and that ghostly white unicorn doing way back in front of Fluttershy’s house?”

“Oh wow, I almost forgot…” Discord replied as he reached into the white, shield-emblem decorated robe he was wearing. “She was paying me to give you this…”

Discord gave G.R.D. a photograph that showed Fluttershy crying at a tombstone, with a familiar ghostly figure beside her…

“Woah, that is something else!” G.R.D. exclaimed in surprise.

“But wait…” Dumb-bell said. “What about all the alternate reality stuff?”

“Oh shoot, I wanted to know more about that to-” G.R.D. was too late as she got cut off by Rarity and Discord teleporting them back to the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world.

“This is weird.” Maud Pie made a remark.

“I could not think of a better way to sum everything up myself…” Hoops said.

After that…

Luna resigned as CrE. She gave her position over to Fluttershy, who accepted, after she defeated the One, of course.

Rarity and Discord used their powers to create a new body for Luna as an apology for deceiving her. She looks just like her old self now, despite a few minor changes, particularly ones made to her freeman.

The clones made from humans who wanted to go back home to their world as their ordinary selves were allowed to return. The ones who didn’t return are still working for Rarity and Discord as ponies…

Jason Celestia found the cardboard cutout of Luna. He also found that it really was just cardboard, nothing else.

Transcending Fluttershy’s Dark Sky Luna is trying to figure out where to go if she ever gives up her life of seclusion in her womb.

Some of the bat ponies came to live in the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky. They were quite happy to learn that the position for a pony to raise the sun is open…

The leader Maud Pie honestly does not know how to feel about her experience with Ghost Rainbow Dash coming inside her body.

Fluttershy came home to her own world, so happy to see her friends again, that it was almost...unnerving.

The Dark Sky members found something interesting about the photograph Discord gave them after they returned home to the world of Fluttershy’s Dark Sky...there was a poem inscribed on the back of it…written in ectoplasm...

The Story of the Spirit

Fluttershy, my friend…

It will be okay…

Though this may seem like the end…

There is always another day.

I know there are things…

That we must do…

Our situation has gotten kooky…

But haven’t we too?

Just calm yourself…

It’ll be over soon…

I’ll make you a sun…

And I shall be your moon.

Born of the sky!

Rising over the still land!

Your friends will be your evening stars!

And they’ll understand!

YOU ARE THE LORD!

DARK AND HOLY WILL BE YOUR NAME! FLUTTERSHY!

DISCORD WILL BE YOUR SHIELD! AND I WILL BE YOUR SWORD!

THEY’LL SEE THEM WHEN THEY LOOK TO PROCLAIM! THE DARK SKY!

Dark Sky’s Ending: The End

EPILOGUE

“No way…” the Dark Sky members said. “Could it be...that even back then...Rarity had this planned out...WITH FLUTTERSHY TOO?!”

Over the dark sky on that night, Rarity, Discord, and Fluttershy were talking…

“My plan worked perfectly…” Rarity complimented herself. “Fluttershy is a completely pure and all-powerful god now...and none of her subjects will ever learn of the failed experiment known as the One…”

“Ha ha ha!” Discord laughed. “A god who is both good and evil, light and dark! Oh, this is delicious! I love messing with reality!”

“So do I…” Fluttershy joined in, grinning sinisterly. “Now that I have authority over the Goddess of Death, I can finally start my quest to bring true immortality to this world. And now that my band members have the power of the revived orbs inside them, they’ll be such a wonderful help to me...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA GEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HA HA!!!”

“This has gotten so weird…” the Dark Sky members thought.

 

The Final Enigmatic Words of the Cloud Dragon of the Mist

Thank you very much reader for seeing out the story of the Dark Sky to the end. This may be the ending of their tale for now, but don’t forget that there is always a new chapter to be told…

[Metal Snake]

Faintly...I’ll go...to take this head on...

The Debate of King Sombra

Every fan of King Sombra has seen The Crystal Empire, the two-parter premiere episode of the third season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, in which he made his debut. Although both the portrayal of King Sombra in this episode and the episode as a whole have always sparked a wide mix of different opinions amongst fans of the show, one generally accepted opinion on the episode is that the scene of King Sombra’s defeat is one of the show’s most memorable scenes. What has always made it stand out from the show’s other instances of a villain suffering their untimely defeat, often caused by multi-colored lights (TASTE THE RAINBOW MOTHERFUCKER), is that it apparently depicts the first, and still to this day, only time where a villain has been killed.  

...Notice how the word, “apparently”, is italicized for emphasis.

There is debate on the matter of whether King Sombra was truly killed or not in The Crystal Empire. Those who side with the former and believe that the case is open-and-shut most often bring up the response of Meghan McCarthy, the aforementioned episode’s writer, who when asked about whether Sombra was dead or not, replied by saying that he was. The most common counterargument to this is that what Meghan McCarthy says is subject to change, as demonstrated in the case of her reply to a question on the issue of whether Flash Sentry, a character from the show’s spin-off film series, Equestria Girls, would ever make an appearance in the show. Though she replied by saying that he would not, Flash Sentry still in fact appeared in two episodes she wrote for.

When Meghan was asked about this, she replied by saying that it was not her decision to include said character in the episode. It was later announced by “Big” Jim Miller, the show’s supervising director (and Sombra’s voice actor :3), that the reason for his inclusion was that he was “added by request”. Incidentally, Jim Miller, the same person who defended Meghan on this matter, also implied that the show’s team was undecided on whether to use King Sombra again or not when he was asked about whether he thought the character was capable of being redeemed or not.  

It has been proven that what a member of the show’s creative team says in regards to the show’s future is not absolute confirmation, as what they say is interchangeable depending on the future of what the entirety of the show’s creative team ultimately agrees upon. In fact, the episode in question, The Crystal Empire, turned out very different from how it was originally planned to be. Many of the changes made to the original script, such as King Sombra originally being the leader of an army of the undead, were discussed in an interview with Meghan McCarthy. Hasbro, the parent company of Studio B, the studio that produces the show, also had influence in the changes made to the original script as well, but that is a matter to be discussed much later.

Essentially, the only thing we know for certain at the moment regarding the debate on whether King Sombra is dead or not is that there is no concrete, conclusive answer yet. Even what I am about to discuss is only a theory for my own personal headcanon that King Sombra is very much alive. However, I have many facts to bolster my argument, including many examples from the show that I do believe need to be given more attention. Be warned that this theory will be very long and detailed. In an effort to simplify it as much as possible, however, I will divide it into five parts and start from the basic facts we all know.

The Defeat of King Sombra

In The Crystal Empire, King Sombra is defeated when the Crystal Heart is put back in its rightful place, causing intense light to erupt all across the empire, causing his pony body to explode. What follows this is even more light bursting from the empire, causing the shadows that have surrounded the empire to blow away and disappear. Needless to say, naturally, in the real world, your body exploding would most certainly kill you. What is also needless to say, however, is that King Sombra is most certainly not a natural creature living in the real world. Though an explosion of the body would still guarantee the death of a pony, even in a fantasy world like My Little Pony’s where death is acknowledged, a nagging question still lingers in regards to Sombra…

...What exactly is he?

He is first shown to be a unicorn before Princess Celestia explains to Twilight Sparkle that he was “turned to shadow”. After that, the only part of the episode that shows him as a unicorn again is soon before his defeat. Somehow, exposure to light emanating from the Crystal Heart causes him to “transform back into a unicorn”. There is no stated explanation given for why this happens in the episode, but there is an implied one that can be assumed upon observation of evidence...

If you watch the scene where Sombra “becomes a pony again” closely, you can see the shadow being “pulled off of him” by the light from the Crystal Heart. In real life, when a shadow is exposed to light, the shadow extends and grows darker, which explains the shadow being pulled away. I know that it is possible that the only reason Sombra is forced into a solid form by the light of the Crystal Heart is because shadows simply are not allowed to be in the presence of the Crystal Heart’s light. But notice how said light does nothing to the dark crystal Sombra is riding, even though the crystal was formed from Sombra’s shadow form when he came out of the ground. Knowing this, we can assume the possibility that there was no transformation involved in Sombra’s “pony reverting”. However, it doesn’t end there.

A popular belief surrounding Sombra’s form is that he is a “shadow pony”, a hybrid between a creature of pure shadow and a pony. What I just talked about may seem to support that. It is even possible that what Celestia meant by “turned to shadow” is that she and Princess Luna actually put Sombra inside a body of shadow. Therefore, he still, technically, is a pony.

But wait a minute, let’s go over some more details before we jump to conclusions.

The flashback that portrays Celestia and Luna defeating Sombra for the first time does seem more likely to be depicting a transformation rather than Sombra being “put inside of a shadow”. In that scene, an intense flood of light washes over him, causing his cape, armor, and circlet to fall off. It is not until a similar thing happens to him with the Crystal Heart that he regains all these items, even though they were blown off of him a thousand years ago. After that, he is thrown in a fissure between two colossal layers of ice that come together.

Now, think about it. If he was just a pony inside a shadow, no, if even any part of him is still flesh and blood, wouldn’t he die by having two walls of ice crush him? That isn’t even counting that he managed to live for a millennium inside of such an inhospitable area as inside of an icy crevice. How is this possible? Is he immortal? Then why does he assume the form of a seemingly mortal pony right before his defeat? Because of a magic light? Wasn’t it magic light that turned him to indestructible shadow? It seems rather complicated at first, but I believe the answer is actually very simple...  

King Sombra’s body has been entirely transformed into shadow. The pony form he takes on when he’s exposed to the Crystal Heart’s light isn’t real.

The first piece of evidence I will bring up to back up this answer is the way Sombra behaves in his shadow form. Magic simply passes right through him, he can expand his body to surround the entire area of the empire with shadow, he can regenerate broken parts of his body, can pass through solid ground, and can transform parts of his body, or even his entire body, into dark crystal, as shown in the scene where his horn sinks into the ground and in the scene where he goes after Spike.

The second piece of evidence I have to bring up are the aforementioned cape, armor, and circlet reappearing, even after they were lost a thousand years ago. An easy answer to how they magically came back (besides MAGIC! *snort* *snort*) is that they didn’t magically come back at all. Parts of Sombra’s body of shadow simply adopted their form.

Think it through. If Sombra can physically manifest himself as crystal, what would be so difficult about manifesting parts of himself as simple accessories? But more importantly, doesn’t this make it entirely possible for him to create a body for himself that resembles that of a pony’s, but is actually made entirely of crystal?

Imagine the scene where Sombra appears to become a pony again like this. When the light shines on him, his shadow body is naturally forced to assume a physical form of dark crystal. The light then causes the rest of the shadow surrounding him to extend in the direction opposite of where hes headed. Some of it fades while some of it becomes part of the dark crystal he’s on.

Going back to the scene where the broken piece of Sombra’s horn sinks into the ground and transforms into dark crystal, notice how in the following scene, he is still able to use magic even with part of his horn gone. But in the case of Shining Armor, an ordinary pony, he could not use magic after Sombra did something to his horn that caused dark crystals to appear on part of it.

Now let’s go back to the scene where Sombra’s body explodes. Why does this happen if he is just a normal pony of flesh and blood at this time? The light from the Crystal Heart fills all the other ponies’ bodies with light that glows all throughout them. But in Sombra’s case, it causes his body to crack and shatter like glass or rock...or crystal. If you watch closely, you’ll see that his explosion is not so much an explosion, it is moreso a wave of light pushing the crumbled pieces of his body away. You can even still hear Sombra screaming as parts of his body fly away. This could be intended to be an echo, I know, but I only mean to state what happened.

This is merely extra food for thought as well. The real kicker comes with the final piece of evidence I have for my theory on why King Sombra is one-hundred percent shadow…

When King Sombra supposedly dies, his shadows, which are shown to be part of him, do not die with him. They linger around the empire until another burst of light blows them away and causes them to vanish. Why is that? Again, think. If Sombra was just an ordinary pony, the light from the Crystal Heart would not kill him. If Sombra was just a pony-shadow hybrid, losing his pony self would destroy his entire being. That is, if you consider that he is mortal…

Upon exploring the details of Sombra’s defeat, I have arrived at the conclusion that even if my answer is incorrect, much evidence is still left behind that supports that King Sombra is always in the form of an immortal shadow. And this is only one part of what I want to discuss…

Backstory of King Sombra

Many agree that the backstory Sombra is given in the show is vague and leaves much to be desired. For one, just the way Princess Celestia explains it is shaky. She doesn’t even mention that it was her and Luna who banished King Sombra one thousand years ago even as said fact is made obvious in the flashback. Not only that, but there is an inconsistency in her story. How was King Sombra able to take over the Crystal Empire if the Crystal Heart was there to protect the empire from evil? How did Sombra get in? Was the heart knocked out of place and rendered temporarily unusable? Did it break and have to be fixed? Or…

It is possible that there’s something Princess Celestia and Luna know about Sombra that they don’t want Twilight Sparkle to know. Just watch the way Luna behaves the entire time. What reason does she have to be unhappy that Twilight is being given a chance to protect the empire and make a large step towards the next chapter of her life? Is she just jealous? When at any other time in the series has Luna been shown to be jealous of Twilight? She seemed to be very happy for her when she became a princess in Magical Mystery Cure, so what reason would she have to be upset? If it has nothing to do with Twilight, then maybe it has something to do with Sombra…

I’m sure some of you reading this already know that Luna’s behavior in this episode has led to speculation amongst some fans that Luna and Sombra were once in a relationship back when Sombra ruled over the empire with kindness. I’m also sure about what some of you are thinking…

“What the hell? I thought this was some loser’s crazy conspiracy theory about King Sombra being alive, not some loser’s shipping trash!”

...and don’t worry, I have no intention of abruptly shifting the focus of this theory to LunaXSombra4ever. I bring this up because I do believe it is vital to understanding why Sombra’s backstory as we know it does not match up with his rise and fall as we know it. Here is where I’m trying to explain why Sombra’s backstory does not fit with an ending of him abruptly being killed.

It is possible that Luna and Sombra were merely close friends, and that no romance was involved between them. It seems ridiculous imagining them together in an intimate relationship…until you read the comics and take a look at the arc where Princess Celestia has a romantic relationship with an alternate version of King Sombra.

Now I am well-aware that it has been said that the canon of the comics and the canon of the show are separate, not just by word of the show’s staff, but also by word of the comics’ staff. This matters not though, as what I mean to show here is that MLP is not against the idea of its characters having romantic relationships. There have even been hints in the show, such as with Big McIntosh and Marble Pie.

I’d even say that there’s another hint in the episode besides Luna’s odd, unexplained behavior. Watch what happens after the Crystal Empire banishes King Sombra. We get a scene where Celestia puts her horn against Luna’s and smiles after seeing light from the empire pass by the window. Luna hesitates at first, but soon slides her horn against her sister’s as well and smiles. What is the purpose of this scene? Most likely, it’s to show that Celestia and Luna are relieved that Twilight has passed the test and that the Crystal Empire is safe. However, that does not mean this is the scene’s only purpose…

It’s entirely possible that the scene has a secondary purpose, that being to confirm that it was indeed Celestia and Luna who banished Sombra a thousand years ago. Though they’re covered by a veil of shadow in the flashback, you can see them putting their horns together to shine their light on Sombra, just as they do in this scene. Keep in mind that Celestia and Luna “should not have known” that Sombra had returned. All Celestia had asked of Twilight was to protect the empire from danger, she never told her that the threat was Sombra...

Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t make sense from a writing perspective to imply that something more happened between Celestia, Luna, and Sombra, only to permanently kill Sombra off with no intention of taking that implied plot point anywhere. Speaking of comics and permanently killing off characters…

The Other Story of King Sombra

I do read the IDW MLP:FiM comic series, and I have read the issues of the Siege of the Crystal Empire arc. Unlike the aforementioned arc, Reflections, this arc tells us for the first time in the main series (that’s discounting FIENDship is Magic) what King Sombra’s backstory is. This displays that Hasbro does have some interest in him even with him being “dead” in the show.

Without spoiling too much, this arc tells us that King Sombra is actually an umbrum, a creature who comes from a race of shadow ponies...as far as comic canon is concerned, but you catch my drift. And yes, this arc proves without a shadow of a doubt (no pun intended) that show canon and comic canon do not intermingle, as they have two different “Changeling Invasion of the Crystal Empire” stories. The one in the show does not acknowledge or leave any window of opportunity for the one in the comic to take place.

I mention this because many do view the comics as canon with the show, which is true to some level. The comics do try to stay faithful to the canon of the show, but in the end, are intended to be their own stories. They don’t mean to follow the show exactly and, therefore, should not be used to back up arguments for what went on and what didn’t go on in the show.

Hey, I’m just being honest here. If I don’t give it to you straight that my entire theory falls apart if the comics are canon, I’m fu-

Moving on, there is another interesting fact about Sombra’s arc in the comics that does cast doubts on him being killed off in the show. Again, trying to only spoil what’s necessary, there is a character who apparently gets killed off in the story and is only said to actually be alive at the very ending of the comic through an abrupt exchange of dialogue (NO NOT KILLED SHATTERED). When the writer of said arc, Jeremy Whitley, was asked about this bizarre moment, he replied by saying that it was a last-minute inclusion made because of Hasbro’s policy of “not killing off characters”.

Remember what I said much earlier on about Hasbro having influence in the changes made to the original script of The Crystal Empire? It is apparent now that their influence does not merely impact how the episodes of the show are written, but also how the stories in the comics are written. Because My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a show intended to promote toys, this has always been something to be expected. I mean not to imply that it’s surprising in the case of the comics, but it is indeed interesting.

If you explore Hasbro’s past, history shows you that killing off characters has not gone well for them. The poor box office performance of The Transformers: The Movie was widely blamed on Hasbro’s controversial decision to use it as a way to advertise their upcoming line of toys by killing off much of the current character cast and replacing them with new characters. Not only that, but allowing for the return of a beloved villain character such as King Sombra would be basic business strategy.

Though I humbly acknowledge that everything I have said thus far has been subject to correction, I will do the unthinkable for a moment...and be realistic. Disregarding my input, just imagine it for yourselves. Do you honestly think that during production of Season 3, that Meghan McCarthy was ever called into Stephen Davis’ office and told that she had to completely kill off a new character, whom money could potentially be going into, and leave no door open whatsoever for the character to ever return? No, that I can guarantee never happened. There would be a better chance that one day, Meghan was called into his office and asked to write My Little Pony: High School Musical. Speaking of My Little Pony: High School Musical…

...

...I’m just kidding. At least as far as I know, there’s no evidence of King Sombra being alive in Equestria Girls. Still, I feel I’ve made my point that there are even clues outside of the cartoon that nudge at the possibility of Sombra being alive. Not just that, I also feel like I’ve said enough about Sombra just being alive...so how about I end this by talking about him being alive...and returning?

Return of King Sombra

Soon I’ll come around...lost and never found...

What’s that? King Sombra might still be alive because his horn survived the explosion? Come on, that’s crazy talk!

So yeah, speaking seriously, why did it take me so long to bring up what is easily the most popular speculation for how Sombra was able to survive being blown to bits in The Crystal Empire? Easy. Because I wanted to be original! To set myself apart from those zombie writers who just go on and on about trivial shit that everyone already knows, I went on and on about trivial shit that no one cares about, like a worm tunneling its way through a zombie’s corroding brain!

I’m just joking, as always. I don’t really think I’m “more original” than theorists who use Sombra’s horn and his ability to regenerate his body parts as the focal point of their argument for him being alive. It’s a good piece of supporting evidence to the argument, but I already discussed his regeneration ability earlier, and additionally, it was never what drove me to become a follower of the belief that Sombra is still alive. My inspiration came from SkyBolt, co-creator of the popular Sombra-related music composition, Fall of an Empire, after he discussed his inspirations in an afterthoughts video concerning the project, so special thanks to him.

In this video, SkyBolt talks about his personal headcanon on what happened to King Sombra in the Season 3 premiere at a few points. Believe it or not, granted you’re unfamiliar with the video, his theory on the matter is very different from mine. Still, I took everything he said into consideration. He too brought up Luna’s unusual behavior in the episode, but what particularly caught my attention is when he began talking about believing that Sombra actually returned to the Crystal Empire after all had transpired. After hearing that...I got curious. And so, I began to think. Were there any other potential clues to Sombra’s return other than his horn? Looking now, I believe there are…

First, I’ll bring up the bright orange sky at the end of the special. Remember that in The Crystal Empire, when Sombra surrounded the empire, the sky above the area was orange, the color of the sky during sunset. In the final verses of The Failure/Success Song, it is sunset and the sky is orange, even though at every other time in that series of scenes, it is day and the sky is blue. Seeing as how it was nighttime when Twilight and her friends were at the Crystal Empire, confirmed by Shining Armor’s line of dialogue about “not wanting to run into things after dark”, and the night sky outside Celestia and Luna’s palace after Sombra is defeated, it would make sense for it be daytime when Twilight and her friends returned home. After all, they left in the afternoon and arrived at the empire at night, where the sky above is always blue.

Please don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not trying to be overanalytical and I know such a small thing is explainable by an oversight. Do keep in mind though that in The Crystalling, the show’s Season 6 premiere, a similar thing happened towards the end where a small black creature that appeared to be a Changeling could be seen flying towards the Crystal Empire in the final scene. While this was explainable by an oversight, as it could’ve just been a random pegasus veiled by shadow that was added to the scene by mistake or for effect, it still turned out to be foreshadowing for the plot of Queen Chrysalis’ return that season.

On the subject of The Crystalling, anyone who has watched the special has noticed its bizarre lack of an antagonist, the same way Princess Twilight Sparkle, the show's Season 4 premiere, lacked an antagonist. But in the case of the latter, the conflict was set in motion by a former villain, long ago while he was still evil. In the case of the former, the conflict is caused...by an innocent infant and the forces of nature. Needless to say, something about this feels off. Could it be the nagging feeling that the storms that threaten the Crystal Empire are actually being caused by an evil force?

It has been proven in the show that evil forces do create storms that bring harm to the land of Equestria, as seen in the case of the Windigoes. So is it possible...that the real cause of the storms in The Crystalling...is King Sombra? The dark clouds enshrouding the empire do give one callbacks to the shadows Sombra surrounded the area with back in The Crystal Empire, just as the final scene where the dark clouds are banished away by the Crystal Heart give one callbacks to the shadows being blown away by the Crystal Heart after Sombra’s defeat. But these scenes have more in common than you may know…

If you looked closely in The Crystal Empire, you would’ve noticed that after the Crystal Heart is put in place, for the first time, Sombra’s shadows...can be seen casting shadows in the same way the dark clouds in The Crystalling do. It’s odd how they mirror each other this way. How does a magic shadow...cast a shadow? Could this have been done intentionally? Or is it also coincidence that the ones who volunteer to stymie these dark clouds are Princesses Celestia and Luna, the same ones who have returned to the empire for the first time in a thousand years...and banished King Sombra the last time they were here?

Finally, do not forget that Sombra is all too familiar with weather phenomena, as displayed by his creation of an artificially orange sky, one that is seen in both The Crystal Empire and in the alternate future shown in The Cutie Re-Mark. Not only that, but do you remember what happened the first time King Sombra reappeared outside of the Crystal Empire for the first time in a millennium? The weather was unruly...the winds were howling...like a storm...

But I’ll keep coming…

In conclusion, I believe that there has been far more evidence pointing to King Sombra’s return than we ever thought. Please look at all this for yourselves and make your own conclusions based on what you believe, however. If you find a mistake within my theory, please call me out on it, preferably in a civil manner. Fandom starts with love, there’s no need to shove. I just found this to be an interesting thing to explore and talk about. All it is is my thoughts on the research I’ve done. Also, keep in mind that this entire thing was written by the same person who drew two pictures of King Sombra’s ghost visiting Princess Luna under the headcanon that he had died in The Crystal Empire.

However, that same person also believes now that King Sombra is coming back...and that he’s bringing his toys with him...

[Rebel the Wolfgirl]

This is pretty interesting, Snek. I personally think that Sombra may return as well, but maybe in a more Sauron-esque form.

[SpongeOddFan]

I'm still catching this show (lol i'm lazy to catch it up, but I'll try). as for the story itself, i liked it.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Austin Layers

[Metal Snake]

This is something SOF wanted me to post here, the two episodes I edited for his scrapped show, Plankton's Real New Leaf. I made extensive edits to the pilot and the third episode of the show, while the second episode was edited by Jjs.

 

Episode 1: Pilot

 

One day, at the Chum Bucket, Plankton was working on his latest invention that he would use to finally get the Krabby Patty secret formula...at least so he and Karen hoped.

   

“Plankton! What is that thing?” Karen asked him. “And what do you plan to do with it?”

   

“Shh, I’m trying to work here.” Plankton said, as he did some finishing touches on what appeared to be a ray gun. “Finished!”

   

He picked up the ray gun-resembling invention and pointed it at one of the seats at a table.

 

“Watch my genius in action…” he boasted as he fired a ray at the seat that teleported the seat right next to him. “With this marvelous machine, I can transport a Krabby Patty, or even better, the secret formula right into the Chum Bucket without having to worry about that fool Krabs chasing me down and catching me!”

   

“It’s called...the Transportinator!” Plankton proudly declared.

   

“Oh wow, there’s NO better name you could’ve come up with than that...” Karen said, sarcastically.

   

“Aw, you don’t need to rub my ego,” replied Plankton, “it’s common knowledge that my intelligence is nonpareil. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a formula to steal...”

   

At the Krusty Krab, Spongebob rung the bell as Squidward just laid at the cash register lazily reading a magazine as usual.

 

“Hey hey, Squidward, order up!” Spongebob exclaimed as he laid a tray of food on the counter. In response, Squidward just kept lying there.

 

“Hmm, maybe I didn’t ring the bell hard enough.” Spongebob naively thought.

 

“HEY-SQUID-WARD!” Spongebob exclaimed louder as he started to repeatedly hit the bell, which got the attention of a now irritated Squidward.

 

“WHAT?!” he shouted angrily at Spongebob as he got up.

 

“Oh nothing,” replied Spongebob innocently as he stopped hitting the bell, “I was just wondering, don’t you think it’s weird how we’ve not had that many customers lately?”

   

“Hmph, maybe a good business strategy would be to not ring the bell a hundred times!” Squidward said angrily.

   

“Sorry Squidward, I don’t know what came over me.” SpongeBob replied, as he goes back to the kitchen from windows.

   

Of course you don’t…” Squidward scoffed as he took the tray, and gave it to three customers at a table.

   

“This looks so good.” one of them said.

   

“Whatever, just enjoy your mediocre meal...” Squidward grumbled.

 

Inside the kitchen, Spongebob was humming merrily to himself while cooking patties when suddenly, Plankton flung open the kitchen door and pointed the teleporting gun at Spongebob. Spongebob gasped in response.

   

“Plankton, what do you want?!” SpongeBob exclaimed.

   

“Well, if you must know, I’ve finally got the perfect plan to get the formula!” Plankton proclaimed, as he’s about to pull the trigger.

   

“Not so fast, Plankton, I’ve got a weapon too!” SpongeBob yelled as he took his spatula in hand and did a karate stance. “HI-YA!”

   

“You fool, I don’t plan to fight you!” Plankton exclaimed. “I only came to show off! My plan is to gun and run!”

   

“Huh?” SpongeBob replied, confused.

   

“You’ll see…” Plankton said, as he then dashed over to Mr. Krabs’ office. He peered the door open slightly and fired the teleporter gun at the safe box where the secret formula was kept, thus teleporting it to the Chum Bucket. Mr. Krabs, who had been writing something on a piece of paper, turned to face his now missing safe in shock.

   

“Yes, I finally got it!” Plankton proclaimed, laughing. “Time to make my leave now! So long, suckers!”

 

Plankton then activated his jetpack and flew back to the Chum Bucket laughing, leaving a puzzled Spongebob to ponder in confusion before Mr. Krabs burst from his office, looking aghast.

 

“Spongebob!” he exclaimed. “What in the name of the almighty dollar is going on?! Me safe is missing!”

 

“Well, Plankton was here showing off this weird gun of his…”  

 

“PLANKTON!” Mr. Krabs bellowed. “The Krabby Patty formula was in that safe!”

 

Spongebob gasped.

 

“We have to get it back!” Spongebob cried.

 

“Tell me something I don’t know, boy!” Mr. Krabs exclaimed.

 

“Did you know that olives are actually fruit?” Squidward said mockingly, only to get a stern glance from Mr. Krabs.   

   

Back at the Chum Bucket…

 

Plankton had just gotten the formula out of the safe, having a better idea of how to crack the safe thanks to the events of Frozen Face-Off. He then held up the scrolled up formula in his hand triumphantly.

 

“At long last, I finally got it!” he proclaimed. “Now I just need to analyze the recipe, then keep a permanent record of it...”

 

“You called?” Karen said.

   

Plankton was about to upload the formula to Karen, but was interrupted by Mr. Krabs suddenly bursting into his lab, looking very angry.

   

“Alright Plankton, I want me formula back...” Mr Krabs said in a menacing tone. “Don’t make me have to use force…”

   

“Oh Krabs...” Plankton replied, grinning smugly. “You’ll just have to learn the hard way that it’s time to throw in the towel…”

   

Mr Krabs rushed towards Plankton, only for Plankton to push a button on a remote controller he pulled out that activated a trapdoor under Mr. Krabs.

 

“Uh-oh…” Mr. Krabs said, looking down at the hole in the floor, expecting to fall, but was instead met with chains shooting out of the hole that handcuffed his limbs, and a giant chain that came from the ceiling that gripped his chest.

   

“Argh, ugh!” Mr Krabs grunted, struggling to get out of the chains. “I can break these chains, you little pest!”

   

“That’ll be the day, and it’s this day that I plan to rule the world once again.” Plankton gloated, laughing.

   

“No, that will never happen again!” Mr Krabs cried.

   

“My second latest invention says otherwise…” Plankton scoffed, as he pulled out another remote controller and pushed the button to unveil a machine that rose out of another hole in the floor. As an antenna then appeared on top of the Chum Bucket, Spongebob and Squidward, who had arrived to help Mr. Krabs, noticed.  

   

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the next step to his plan is starting his own radio station.” Squidward joked.

   

“That’s not gonna happen!” Spongebob exclaimed, not picking up on Squidward’s sarcasm, and kicked open the door to the Chum Bucket. “Plankton, you’re finished!”  

   

“Oh ho, please…” Plankton mocked. “Hey Spot, show these losers who they’re dealing with…”

 

Plankton snapped his fingers, and out from another platform that rose from a hole in the floor came an undersea labrador retriever...that soon turned into a monstrous beast.

 

“AAAHH!” Spongebob and Squidward screamed as Spot began chasing them.

   

“This is insane!” Mr Krabs exclaimed, as he tried thinking of a way to get out of his situation. “What are you even trying to do?”

   

“Simple, use this machine to hypnotize everyone into coming here to eat my chum and my Krabby Patties...” Plankton explained as he rubbed his hands sinisterly.

   

“You’ll do that over my dead body!” Mr Krabs yelled.

   

“For once, you’re right, Krabsie...” Plankton said evilly as he activated a switch to undo the chains from the trapdoor that bound Mr. Krabs. Destroy him, Spot!”

 

Spot, who had cornered a cowering Spongebob and Squidward, heard Plankton’s order and went to attack Mr Krabs. Spot pounced on Krabs, causing the chain from the ceiling that bound him to snap. Spot then began to claw at Mr. Krabs’ chest, inadvertently cutting the chain with his incredible strength.

 

“MOMMY!” Krabs shrieked in agony. Despite being free from the chains, he was now at the mercy of Spot. Noticing this, Spongebob and Squidward knew they had to do something.

 

“Come on, Squidward, we have to help him!” Spongebob cried as he began to look around, while Squidward just stood there. “Hurry, Squidward! Mr. Krabs doesn’t have much time!”

 

“I only wish moral obligation was a better motivator…” Squidward replied as he begrudgingly started helping Spongebob in his search. “What are we even looking for specifically? A bone for him to chew?”

 

Spongebob gasped before smiling widely.

 

“Squidward, you’re a genius!” he exclaimed. “I’ve found the perfect thing!”

 

He held up a red, rubber chew toy that was shaped like a bone.

 

“Oh Spot!” Spongebob exclaimed, getting Spot’s attention. “Look, it’s your favorite toy!”

 

Spot turned to look at Spongebob waving the chew toy in front of his face, and began to grin widely and dopily with his tongue out. Spongebob then tossed the toy towards him. Taking it in his mouth and chewing on it, Spot returned to his normal size. Seeing this, Plankton became enraged.

 

“Graah!” he cried. “You moronic mutt! Prepare the death ray, Karen! We’re switching to Plan B!”  

   

“Go crazy.” Karen said as she handed him a ray gun that was shaped like a missile launcher. Plankton fired a laser beam from it at Mr. Krabs, who quickly rolled out of the way to avoid it. He, Spongebob, and Squidward then hid under a counter.

 

“We’re no match for him,” said Spongebob, “he has the better arsenal, plain and simple. But thankfully, we don’t have to fight him to win. We just have to gun and run!”

 

“Uh...what?” Squidward responded in confusion.

 

“I...think what the boy means is to grab the formula and run like cowards.” Mr. Krabs theorized.

 

“Not quite,” replied Spongebob, “what I mean is for us to grab the formula and run like heroes! I’ll distract him while Mr. Krabs gets the formula and Squidward stands by in case we need backup!”

 

“Glad you know I love being challenged at my job, Spongebob.” Squidward remarked sarcastically.

 

“Now then…” Plankton said, lowering his ray gun and getting out the formula to upload into Karen. “I think it’s time I got that-”

 

“Hey Plankton!” Spongebob exclaimed, getting up from under the counter. “Lovely weather we’re having, eh?”

 

“Blast, you infernally persistent cube!” Plankton cried as he readied his ray gun. “When will you-”

 

Plankton was interrupted by Mr. Krabs sneaking up from behind and swiping both Plankton’s ray gun and the formula. Krabs then made a dash towards the exit.    

 

“HEY! GIVE ME THAT BACK, KRABS!” Plankton yelled, as he ran after Krabs as fast as he could. “I’m not going to fail after coming this close!”

   

Meanwhile, a mysterious figure wrapped in a red robe that covered their back, chest, and mouth was riding on a motorbike. They came to a sign saying “Welcome to Bikini Bottom”. After stopping to read the sign, the figure looked at a picture he had of Plankton.

   

“I wonder what he’ll think...” they pondered. The figure eventually drove further ahead towards the road where the Chum Bucket and the Krusty Krab intersected. “...when I break the good news to him…”

   

Back in the Chum Bucket, Plankton had caught up to Mr. Krabs and grabbed the formula. As he tried to take it with Mr. Krabs still holding onto it like a tug-o-war, Plankton reminisced on the first time they fought over the formula…

 

“It’s...just like way back then…” Plankton said as his grip weakened. “Even with how much my tactics have improved, nothing has truly changed since that day…”

   

“HI-YAH!” SpongeBob cried, karate chopping Plankton’s hand, allowing Mr. Krabs to take the formula. “Once again Plankton, we win!”

 

“Oh, well good for you.” Plankton replied sarcastically. “As for me, I don’t care!”

 

Both Spongebob and Mr. Krabs could swear they heard a record being scratched.

 

“W-WHAT?!” they both shouted. “But...this is the part where you’re supposed to…”

 

“Curse you, moan, sob, curse myself, wallow in misery, et cetera?” Plankton finished for them. “Sorry, not this time. This was the closest I ever got to stealing the Krabby Patty formula since that time where I almost took over the entire ocean. I actually got the formula inside the Chum Bucket and held it in the palm of my hands. And still, it was ripped from me just like it was all those years ago...and for the first time, I actually asked myself...what have I been doing all these years?”

 

Seeing Plankton shed a genuine tear from his eye, Spongebob and Mr. Krabs actually felt some genuine sympathy for him.

   

“That’s it...I’m quitting.” Plankton said as he lowered his head. “It’s time for me to move on…”

   

“Move on to what, Plankton?” Spongebob asked.

 

“I hope this won’t be leading to another knick-knack shop charade…” Mr. Krabs said skeptically.

 

Just then, a mysterious figure came in. They opened the door to see everyone surprised and confused.

   

“Who the barnacles are you?” Squidward asked.

 

“Wait a second…” Spongebob said, finding the figure’s stature familiar. “Could you be…?”

   

“Is Sheldon J. Plankton still doing business here?” the figure asked.

 

“In a relative sense, yes.” Plankton replied unenthusiastically. “What do you care?”

 

“No reason…” the figure said facetiously. “Besides looking to do business with him elsewhere…”

   

“What are you talking about?” Plankton replied, as the figure is about to reveal themselves.

   

“It’s been a long time, boss!” Dennis revealed as he took out his robe to reveal his body with his hat, and his sunglasses.

 

“DENNIS?!” Spongebob and Plankton exclaimed in surprise.

 

“Who?!” Mr. Krabs and Squidward exclaimed in confusion.

 

“W-weren’t you…?” Plankton prepared to ask.

 

“An assassin?” Dennis replied. “That’s only who I used to be. After I failed to dispatch who should’ve been my easiest targets by far, I did a bit of thinking. And then I heard about how you almost conquered Bikini Bottom...while doing business in the food industry of all things. Seeing how the sinking of the Thug Tug put a lot of workers out of their jobs and a lot of customers out of their hangout, a perfect opportunity had arrived to establish a new restaurant outside of Bikini Bottom.”

 

“Wait, are you saying…?” Plankton said, something beginning to dawn on him.

   

“It’s been a long time…why don’t you come to my restaurant?” Dennis offered. “There’s an open position there...for a new manager…”

 

In awe, Plankton simply replied with…

 

“Take me there.”

 

“Karen...Spot…” Plankton said as Karen and Spot appeared behind him. “I hope you two didn’t have any plans for tonight…”

   

Plankton, Karen, Spot, and Dennis then walked out of the Chum Bucket. Plankton turned to face Spongebob, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward, who were all as astonished as he was as they walked out of the Chum Bucket as well.

 

“See you around...guys.” Plankton bid farewell, waving goodbye.

 

The trio simply waved goodbye back at him, knowing that this was the start to…Plankton’s real new leaf.   

 

Episode 3: New Recruits

 

The episode opens with Plankton directing Dennis to renovate the Thug Thug, in lieu of his new position as manager.

 

“Alright, let’s get this baby done before we open it up to the public.” Plankton said.

 

“Sure thing boss, as soon as those guys get done with my work.” Dennis said, pointing to a group of fish who had been carrying supplies, but stopped after hearing what he said.

 

“Hey, you lied to us!” one fish exclaimed. “You told us we were all hired to do this for our own pay!”

 

“If you think we’re doing your work for free, forget it!” another fish shouted as the whole group threw down their stuff and began walking away. “We quit!”

 

“Fine, get out!” Plankton yelled. “Patrick would make a better worker than all of you combined! At least he takes pride in the work he gets tricked into doing!”

 

“Eh, don’t let it get to you boss,” consoled Dennis, “they were only temp workers anyway. Our new permanent employees are coming today.”  

 

“It’s about time we got actual employees,” said Plankton, “unlike my previous restaurant, the Chum Bucket. I remember one time I had employees. Only for a day, though. That was with SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick…who actually went on to make slogans for the Chum Bucket before he bailed on me to make slogans for the Krusty Krab. Ugh...I learned the hard way to never trust a brainless starfish...”

 

“Heh, good thing the times are a-changing then.” Dennis responded as he took a black briefcase in hand. “Well, I’m off to do my main day job. I’ll see you around.”

 

“Now time to find my new employee.” Plankton said as Dennis walked away, going up to his office which had a small desk above a large desk. Attached to the large desk was a miniature escalator he had to ride up. Plankton stepped on the escalator and began waiting.

 

Three hours later…

 

Plankton had fallen asleep on the escalator, which had just finished carrying him up to the large desk, where he collapsed on the surface of it, still sleeping. He was soon awoken though by the sound of someone coming in his office.

 

“Uh, excuse me sir?” they said, as Plankton quickly got up. “I’m here to be interviewed for a job.”

 

“FINALLY!” Plankton exclaimed happily. “The first of my new minions!”

 

“Heh, yeah, I guess that’s me.” the recruit responded as they both shared a chuckle.

 

“Welcome to the Thug Thug, what’s your name, bud?” Plankton asked.

 

“My name is Brian,” Brian introduced himself, “I’ve been browsing Bikini Bottom and applying for jobs for some time now but still haven’t gotten hired. I have hopes though that this job will be the one.”

 

“Well, having never been the one to enjoy crushing anybody’s hopes and dreams,” said Plankton with a tone of sarcasm, “I’m happy to say that you’re hired!”  

 

“Ha ha ha,” Brian laughed, “I appreciate you making this process quick, but I feel I should at least give you proof of my competence as an employee first.”

 

“Fine, why don’t you go ahead and uh...make up some grub in the kitchen, or whatever.” Plankton replied.

 

They both went to the kitchen, where Plankton watched Brian show off his surprisingly good cooking skills. He quickly prepared a juicy-looking hamburger and put it in front of Plankton. Trying it, Plankton was very impressed.

 

“Now that’s some good eats!” Plankton exclaimed. “Welcome aboard, Brian!”

 

Just as Plankton gave an employee’s hat to Brian, another fish came in.

 

“Excuse me, sir, I’m here for a job interview.” the fish said. “I applied to be a cook-”

The fish then saw Brian and Plankton in the kitchen.

 

“Sorry pal,” said Plankton, “I already have that position filled.”  

 

“Yeah, sorry man,” said Brian, “earliest bird gets the worm.”

 

“Cool man,” retorted the recruit, “but honestly, all I want to know is if there’s something available for the later bird.”

 

“Well, this place could also use a cashier…” Plankton said, musing over what the Krusty Krab had for its employee setup. “What’s your name?”

 

“Johnson,” replied the recruit, “I have experience in the restaurant field. I used to work at the Kelp Shack…”

 

“Pfft, that slimy deathtrap?” Brian joked with accost. “Are you serious?”

“Ggrrr…” Johnson growled.

 

“Whoa, easy there,” intervened Plankton, “I enjoy a bit of conflict every here and there, but animosity between my employees isn’t something I want right now. You two will have to work together if we’re going to make a name for this place.”

 

“So am I getting the job?” Johnson asked.

 

“Sure,” replied Plankton, “what restaurant would only have one employee as opposed to two? I hope you enjoy being my new money-managing boy, working alongside a legendary frycook.”

 

“Uh...thanks.” Johnson said, feeling a bit irritated as he looked at a smugly grinning Brian. “It will be an honor…”

 

“And so begins the tale of a legend and a common cashier...” Brian boasted happily.

 

“Shut up, nerd.” Johnson responded, bemused.

 

“Dude, chill, it’s all in good fun.” Brian said, laughing as he went to the kitchen.

 

Karen and Spot came to the Thug Thug and went to Plankton’s office.

 

“Plankton, we found a place to stay.” Karen told him.

 

“Great,” replied Plankton, “I got the feeling things are going to be all uphill from here…”

 

Across Plankton’s place, there stood his rival restaurant, The Pulverizer’s Pull.

 

“Interesting, looks like someone took out Victor and became the new manager of the Thug Tug.” the manager said, looking out at the Thug Tug from the window in his office.

 

The manager then turned around to face his two new employees.

 

“Boys, I think it’s time to welcome our neighbours...” he told them menacingly and began laughing.

 

Back at the Thug Tug...

 

“Now we need a fresh, new menu.” Plankton said, pulling some chum out of a box, looking to store it in the freezer. “Starring some old favorites, of course.”

 

“Ew, Plankton, you can’t be serious!” Karen yelled. “Why do you think you never had any customers at the Chum Bucket?”

 

“Blah blah blah,” replied an irritated Plankton, “so typical of you, hating everything I try to do. Might I ask if you have any suggestions for what I should put on the menu?”

 

“How about Pinkypoo Burgers?” Karen suggested sarcastically. “They sell a lot better than Chum Burgers, believe me.”

 

“Rrrgh...” Plankton growled.

 

Meanwhile, Brian was in the kitchen cooking while Johnson was at the cash register. Some customers had lined up and were looking around the place.

 

“Hmm, I wonder if this place could actually be better than the Pulverizer’s Pull.” one customer said.

 

“I’ll say Mark,” concurred that customer’s friend as both went up to Johnson, “this place got digs.”

 

“Hello there, my name is Johnson, how may I service you here at the Thug Tug?” Johnson asked, ready to get the notes.

 

“Yeah, can I get a number 1 combo and a kid’s meal for my friend?” Mark joked, chuckling to himself.

 

“Oh, come on man...” Mark’s friend said as he put his fin on his face in bemusement.

 

Johnson grumbled as he took the note anyways and put it up for Brian.

 

Just then, however, a loud noise interrupted the chattering that had been going on between the customers. Everyone looked towards the entrance of the restaurant to see the two employees from the Pulverizer’s Pull demolishing a table, breaking it with their fists.

 

“Hey, I just cleaned that table!” Johnson exclaimed angrily.

 

“By the time we’re done with this place, there’s going to be a lot for you to clean up...” one employee said, chuckling menacingly.

 

“Our boss wants something from this place…” the other employee said as he brandished a sword. “And we’re not leaving until we get it…”

 

Plankton heard the commotion and came out to see the employees by the ruined table.

 

“What the-?!” he shouted. “Who are you brutes?!”

 

“The names are Russell…” the one with the sword said before pointing to the other employee. “And Kurt. We’re from the Pulverizer’s Pull across the street, and our boss sees The Thug Tug as an inconvenience to him…”

 

“I have a new nemesis?” Plankton responded, surprised. “Well if you think you can just waltz in here and trash my restaurant, forget it! Brian, Johnson, sic ‘em!”

 

“But Plankton, I’m a chef, not a fighter.” Brian said. “And one of those guys has a sword!”

 

“And I care about my well being.” Johnson interjected.

 

“We have to do something!” Plankton yelled as Kurt and Russell came closer to them. “At least try to hold them off!”

 

Realizing they didn’t have a choice, Brian came out of the kitchen with a long knife in hand to face Russell while Johnson faced Kurt. Russell swung his sword at Brian, who blocked it with the knife, which was quickly flung away. Johnson threw a punch at Kurt’s stomach, but barely phased, Kurt punched him back in the face, knocking him to the floor.  

 

“Well, this is bad…” Johnson said, lying on the ground.

 

Russell was about to strike Brian, when all of a sudden, the sound of a motorcycle was heard as Dennis crashed into the place. The frightened customers scattered and fled from the restaurant as Dennis leaped off his motorcycle and did a roundhouse kick that hit both Kurt and Russell in his face. He then landed back on his motorcycle, which he brought to a stop. He got off and went over to Kurt and Russell, both lying on the ground now, and picked them by their shirt collars.

 

“Who brought you here?” Dennis said, as the two of them were frightened to say. “Who’s your boss?”

 

“V-V-Vogel...just please let us go...” Kurl said nervously.

 

“Don’t ever come around here again…” Dennis warned them as he then threw them out of The Thug Tug.

 

Dennis then went over to a flabbergasted Plankton.

 

“I’ve got your back.” Dennis told him.

 

“Thanks...” Plankton said, regaining his composure. “Holy barnacles, and to think I was under the impression that workers from a restaurant named the Pulverizer’s Pull would handle things more civilly.”  

 

“lt looks to me that Vogel is behind all of this…” Dennis wondered. “What could they want from us?”

 

Back at The Pulverizer’s Pull...

 

Kurt and Russell were there explaining what happened to Vogel.

 

“Well, looks we got some stiff competition…” Vogel remarked. “That Dennis is something…”

 

“He wasn’t the only surprise we got...” Kurt said. “There was a new manager there too. Some little green guy with one eye.”

 

“We apologize for our failure, boss.” Russell said. “We’ll do whatever you tell us to do to compensate.”

 

“For now, just get back to your stations, you fools.” Vogel ordered, as Kurt and Russell walked away, obeying. “For now, I have better things to do with my time than mess around with little green men…”

 

Vogel then turned to look out the window again.

 

“Welcome to a new era, Shell City.” Vogel said to himself. “Or should I say Shellville…”

 

[Metal Snake]

More shit about King Sombra. This is a review that has to do with me clearing up misconceptions about his arc in the main series of the IDW MLP: FiM comics.

Siege of the Crystal Empire Review

The MLP:FiM comic book series has garnered a very interesting reaction (HEH HEH JUST LIKE THE SHOW). It’s received a wide array of conflicting opinions, criticisms and praises alike, from fans of MLP. One thing that most readers of the comics can agree upon, however, is that some arcs of the comics are just not as good as others. While I’m an ardent believer that most of the “bad arcs” of the comics are often made out to be far worse than they actually are, I sometimes do share disappointment in them. Being a huge fan of King Sombra, one of the show’s major villains, I’m sorry to say that his star arc of the main series, Siege of the Crystal Empire...is not one of those arcs I share disappointment in.

...Eeyup. You did not hear me wrong. I absolutely love this arc, and I absolutely disagree with most of the criticism it’s acquired. You can dislike it all the same, and I don’t want you to shut out any critical remarks made about it if you like it like I do. But in either case, if you want to learn more about why there are still fans who regard this arc as good despite all the negative backlash, listen on...because I’m going to be counter-critiquing the main criticisms I hear against this arc that I don’t find to be legitimately grounded...

The first major criticism I see this arc get all the fucking time, as well as many other arcs in the series is this…

“THE PACING AND STORYTELLING WERE TERRIBLE! I DON’T HAVE ANY EXAMPLES BESIDES A VAGUE ONE HERE AND THERE BUT THE PACING AND STORYTELLING WAS JUST AWFUL!”

Of course, that’s not meant to represent every critic of this arc or the comics in general, but it frustrates me massively every time I hear this remark be made with weak or no backing at all. In that case, I feel like that critic is just going off the “popular opinion” without taking the time to comprehend what a poorly paced and poorly told story is... To illustrate why I disagree with this criticism of this arc’s writing, I’m going to draw comparisons with it to something I do agree is poorly paced and poorly told...

Sword Art Online. Never thought I’d have to touch this for something MLP-related, but I don’t think it can be helped. SAO just so happens to be the king of legendary-bad storytelling. To keep the comparison short and appropriate, I’m only going to talk about the first arc of the SAO graphic novel. Now, let’s compare and contrast Siege of the Crystal Empire with Aincrad...

Siege begins with introducing all the main characters and side characters who start the plot in the first issue. Aincrad starts by introducing one main character and a side character who has little bearing on the plot. In the second issue, both King Sombra, the main antagonist, and Radiant Hope, the side antagonist, are given their backstory, something that is referenced to many times. Aincrad not only fails to establish any kind of villain with a backstory in its entirety, but does not even provide the second lead character, Asuna, who is just casually introduced during an exposition dump, with a backstory. That isn’t until the sequel, Fairy Dance.

Are you seeing the differences yet? But it gets even better. Both Siege’s and Aincrad’s stories are often criticized as rushed. Looking back at Siege though, you can at least see an outline for a plot. Every key scene connects and flows from Point A to Point Z. What happens at the start of Siege? Radiant Hope sends all the villains to the Crystal Empire to distract the Mane 6, thus allowing her to revive King Sombra. That leads to Sombra trying to take the empire for himself, thus the heroes try to defend it. While that’s going on, Radiant Hope teams up with one of the heroes to explore a part of her past and prove that Sombra is actually good. This subplot comes back to the main plot, being the key to the ignition of the climax. A twist is well built up to, this turning out to be Sombra denying his evil nature, even at the cost of his life. But then we get another twist where Sombra is saved and is allowed to live a happy life with his friend as a new person.

Aincrad, on the other hand...I reviled in horror when I looked back at it and realized that the majority of it is just exposition and filler. It starts with Kirito entering the virtual world, where after exposition, we get filler. Kirito becomes stronger and meets Asuna, filler. Kirito goes on a quest that goes awry and makes him decide to stick closer to Asuna, filler. Kirito and Asuna make it to the top to fight the final boss, who turns out to be the leader of their guild. Yes, a stock character with no personality in a poorly built twist that was hardly even foreshadowed. The three bland stooges duke it out, we get a cliche fake-out death of the hero, Kirito, followed by a cliche fake-out death of the heroine, Asuna, who gets put in a coma. And wouldn’t you know? It just so happens to be convenient exposition for the sequel. That’s it. She just comes back the way she was before in the sequel. No one learns anything. Suck my balls.

That’s enough, life’s too short to be rambling any more than I have on Sword Art Fucking Online. But you understand, correct? Unlike the aforementioned, Siege’s plot is focused. It remains on track, nothing interrupts the story’s flow, and everything comes together in the end. Does that sound anything like a badly paced or a badly told story? Not my abridged version? What’s wrong with the unabridged version then? What have I not touched yet? ...Oh, that’s right, I still have some criticisms left to tackle...four of them in fact…

The second argument that many make against this episode is that the “B-villains” were pointless. People ask, “Why didn’t Radiant Hope just use Chrysalis and her Changelings to distract the Mane 6? Iron Will isn’t even a villain! It’s such bad writing how they all just left the story in the third issue!”. One by one, I’ll give these complaints a rebuttal. Twilight and her friends already fought Chrysalis and her Changelings in the first arc. If it was just Chrysalis and her Changelings fighting the Mane 6 again, people would complain and call it a rehash. There had to be something new thrown in to mix things up. Besides, God forbid Radiant Hope wanting all the help she can get.

Iron Will isn’t a villain? Well, neither is Lightning Dust for that matter. Or the Flim-Flam Brothers. They’re just jerks. These “B-villains” are not meant to be some terrible evil, just jerks who are meant to cause a diversion. And all of these characters are established to be jerks, including Iron Will. It’s funny how they’ll bring up that Iron Will can’t even be a “jerk” because of his story in Friends Forever that showed that he wanted to be a role model for his wife and kid.

It’s like...did you just bring up something that the comic itself referenced as evidence against it?! Something it gave a continuity nod to...as criticism for it breaking continuity?! That entire story from Friends Forever shows that Iron Will is still a jerk!

And do you know what happens in that very same scene? Later on in it, the very same panel where he promises Fluttershy that he’ll be a better role model shows that he has no plans to actually change his ways! If you just read the next scene after that, you even see Fluttershy acknowledge that he hasn’t changed! You don’t even to have read the whole issue, just a little more of that part of the comic!

I do understand the characters “leaving the plot” complaint to some extent, because that’s a bad writing cliche I’ve come to hate in the show too, characters being introduced just to disappear from the plot without notice. Honestly though, it didn’t bother me too much here because the characters left the plot with notice. The villains flat-out explain why they leave, because they don’t want to get involved with the umbrum. God forbid they be concerned for their safety?

I actually found the...though I don’t care for the term, “B-villains”, to be a nice inclusion. It was good to have some comic relief for the dark story that was to come. They have some humorous interactions with the Mane 6. I honestly laughed at the part where the Flim-Flam brothers tricked Pinkie Pie into getting shot out of her own party cannon. Acknowledging that that’s just one man’s opinion though, let’s move on.

Now here’s a favorite, “Radiant Hope was a horrible, annoyingly oblivious character!”. Though I can’t argue against the “annoying” bit much, since everybody has their own idea of what’s annoying and what isn’t, I can easily defend Radiant Hope’s “horribleness” and obliviousness. Radiant Hope isn’t meant to be a villain, hero, or antihero. Quoting Jeremy Whitley, the one who wrote this arc, she’s just a flawed character. She is meant to be a good soul, true, but she is definitely not meant to be Jesus!

Was it right for her to send invaders into the Crystal Empire so that she could resurrect Sombra? No, but it’s understandable why she did it, she only had good intentions. She thought the crystal ponies were the bad guys, and Sombra was a friend she wanted to see again, someone she wanted to see become a good guy. So much, that she was willing to sacrifice her destiny to become a princess, her dream. That level of devotion is admirable!

Yeah, she was too trusting of the umbrum. Yeah, she was too naive about Sombra’s evil nature. No shit, that’s her main character flaw. She even admits that she made the mistake of being deceived by blind hope. What were you expecting from a character who has the word, “hope”, in her name? To be outrageously cynical? To have just accepted that Sombra was evil and have done nothing? What kind of story would that be?

I like Radiant Hope because of her flaws, how she’s not at all a conventional “evil villain lackey” character. How many characters like her can you think of? Usually, the dark lord’s most trusted minion who isn’t truly evil goes from being evil to good, or is actually just neutral and accepting of the evil that goes on around them. But Radiant Hope was good from start to finish, and there’s just a charm to her being so innocent to all the darkness around her. She’s almost like a grown-up version of the kid who’s always tagging along with a villain in an anime. I find it more endearing here though, probably because Hope and Sombra are both the same age. I’d love to see their story together continue. Speaking of story continuations…

Another criticism of this arc I always hear that I really didn’t expect was how it “didn’t live up to what its predecessor established”, the issue in Fiendship is Magic that tells us the backstory of King Sombra. I did not even know this arc was a continuation of another story in the comics until I did my research. Normally, I hate it when people judge things based on emotions of how it didn’t live up to their expectations, because normally, I find their expectations to be unrealistic. However, you can’t fairly judge how a critic compares a sequel or an adaptation to the original without experiencing the original for yourself first. That’s why I actually bought Fiendship is Magic and read it to see if maybe I was wrong about this arc…

...It turned out I was. For much different reasons than you would think. Issue #1 of Fiendship actually made me look at Siege in a better light. It made me even more confused as to why people say they like the first issue of Fiendship but not this arc. Poorly paced and rushed with no build-up? Sombra’s story in Fiendship is nothing but build-up to what happens in Siege! How can anyone take an honest look at it and say, “Oh, this character of King Sombra could never be good!”. It shows that he didn’t want to be a monster, that he thought it was his fate! Before Siege did!

If his backstory was something like Queen Chrysalis’, I’d understand, because Chrysalis’ backstory isn’t meant to make you feel sorry for her. But if you read Sombra’s story and have no pity for him, no hope in the possibility that he could’ve been good, you miss out on a big part of what makes the story enjoyable!  

For the final argument against this arc that I want to put to rest, you’ve probably already picked up on what it is, it’s the argument against the ending. The final part of the story is often agreed to be the worst. Even people who like this arc have called it the weakest part of the story, saying that it was too rushed. There are also those who hate this ending simply because it was a happy ending. That not only should (this version of, I’ll remind you) King Sombra have not turned good, but also that there should not have been a happy ending because Radiant Hope and Sombra didn’t deserve it.

First of all, I will agree that the ending goes by very quickly, but I won’t go so far to call it “bad storytelling and pacing” because of what I’ve already said enough times, build-up. Look no further than the first issue of Fiendship, Sombra’s character conflict, and the conversations Radiant Hope and Sombra have about destiny. If you don’t like Sombra turning good, that’s fine. But please, stop blaming it on bad writing. Good writers can write good things you don’t like.

Secondly...disregarding the fact that this is My Little fucking Pony...Radiant Hope and King Sombra did deserve a happy ending. Both of them were saved by their faith in each other and their faith in good! This is not like the ending of Reflections, where alternate King Sombra and Princess Celestia had good lives and were having a happy relationship at the expense of the world’s safety, and thus, that relationship was stopped for the sake of the world. It was a fair exchange, and even though alternate Sombra becomes evil, it’s implied in the ending he can still fight the evil and that things aren’t hopeless for him and Celestia. No, in Siege, Radiant Hope and Sombra were living unhappy lives for over a thousand years.

I’m not saying they should be let off the hook just because they had rough childhoods, no. I’m saying, put yourselves in their shoes the next time you think of saying, “They still need to pay for their crimes!”. Wasn’t living these awful lives for centuries punishment enough?! Both of them may have done awful things, but that was because they were being manipulated by the umbrum! They weren’t forced into it, but they were lied to for all that time. Not just Hope, but even Sombra considered it possible that the umbrum were actually good! Also, what about Princess Luna, who was manipulated in a similar manner? Does she deserve to be punished more?

That isn’t even mentioning that they did good things for others’ happiness too. Hope didn’t just give up her destiny to become a princess, she devoted everything to Sombra, believed in him for centuries. She even took a hit for him after she found out about the umbrum’s ruse! Sombra’s sacrifice in the end isn’t just him cleaning up his own mess, he’s fixing the fault Hope made in something she intended for good and ensuring the umbrum will never return at the cost of his life!

The story doesn’t need to end in tragedy. This is not a horror story, this a My Little fucking Pony story with a moral about the power of hope and love! It is dark, true. But MLP is about light, not darkness.

I know what you’re thinking after how much I’ve defended this arc, is there anything I dislike about it? I don’t think it’s perfect. The ending deserved to be longer and seeing more focus on Sombra would’ve been nice, I will say that much, but I understand that not everything goes the way you want to in the editing process. Also, MY HAND SLIPPED. Rarity’s dark secret revealed. But still, I hate how often the fundamental adequacies of this arc’s writing are ignored. You’re your own best critic, but I hope I at least opened your eyes to how it’s been unfairly dishonored and to its accomplishments. If not, at least there’s always more story to be told about King Sombra. Until then, long live the shadow king.

[Rebel the Wolfgirl]

Well said, Snake.

[Metal Snake]

4 hours ago, Lettuce said:

Well said, Snake.

You like the MLP comics?

[Rebel the Wolfgirl]

Just now, Nick the Wizard said:

You like the MLP comics?

I do, but I don't read them. I like your opinions on this arc, though.

[SpongeOddFan]

Never read MLP comics before but it's good you write your opinion on that comic, Cloudy.